Jaded
by XxNoblesse12
Summary: Their leader was ridiculously strong, a one man army, a master strategist, a fuuinjutsu master, a jinchuuriki, a sage and could come out of the most dangerous situations alive. But they still worried. Because he was their hope, and without him they would probably have given up on life long ago. WARNING: TIME TRAVEL, SUICIDAL, ANGSTY, AND NO SLASH!
1. Future I

**A/n: Hi everyone, this is my first time writing a fanfiction. I hope you like it! Enjoy.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.**

* * *

Deep inside a cave somewhere in the mountains of Kaminari no kuni the remnants of the great shinobi alliance were sitting around a campfire.

An eerie glow of flickering light was cast onto the cold stone walls, and every so often you could hear drops of water dripping down the ceiling or a crackle from a log of wood that had been added to the fire by the person whose turn it was to maintain it. The atmosphere was tense and it had been silent for a while now.

You could literally hear a pin drop.

Ever since their leader had gone out alone a few hours before, the group had tried to keep their calm and just wait for his return. It was _extremely_ hard. These days you could never be sure if someone would be coming back. Not with the madman named Uchiha Madara out there roaming around to find the members of their group to kill them off. They were all at risk. _Especially_ their Hokage.

The silence was broken by an echo of footsteps running towards them from the opening of the cave. The people sitting farthest from the fire tensed, immediately ready for combat. They knew the chakra signature of the man, but you could never be too careful with all the white Zetsu impersonating people, running around. As soon as he rounded the corner a shadow rose up from the ground and grabbed the intruder in a stranglehold.

If you followed the shadow back to it's owner you could see a young man around 21 years old with black hair, tied in a pineapple hairstyle, standing against the wall in the shadows of the cave. His eyes were sharp and unforgiving, he had a dangerous looking scar on his face running from his temple to his chin, narrowingly missing his left eye. His hands were held in the position of his clans signature jutsu, controlling his shadow effortlessly.

At the same time a man with long brown hair tied at the end made his move lightning quick, and in a blur his open palms were only millimeters from the intruders vital points. His milky white eyes had no pupils and would have made him look deceptively blind to people that did not know the clan he came from.

"What is your designation?" He asked in a cold voice, looking right through the ANBU mask, into the spinning wheels of red and black tomoe.

"Konoha ANBU agent Panther. Identification code 1470258369. Back from the chase." The man answered.

* * *

 **SASUKE'S POV**

As soon as he had proved to be himself, Uchiha Sasuke felt the shadow around his neck loosen and withdraw while Neji fell out of his combat stance. He walked over to the fire and sat down with the rest of the group. They all looked extremely tense. He couldn't blame them, he was too

Shino was standing against the far end of the wall. His sunglasses and collar were preventing Sasuke from seeing his expression. From reading his body language you could almost say he was relaxed. But the buzz that Sasuke heard around him clearly indicated that he was highly agitated. Shino had not changed much if you count only appearance, but they all had their scars. Some less visible than others.

Sai was drawing something with a stick in the dirt across from him and still looked as creepy as the day Sasuke first met him. They were fighting against Kabuto and his mass edo tensei army. Sasuke more or less knew who Sai was, and he will to this day deny that he was jealously glaring at him. Naruto had come up to him, and just punched Sasuke in the middle of the battlefield. He announced that Sai-is-part-of-team-seven-whether-you-like-it-or-not-Teme-so-don't-you-look-at-him-that-way ( _and Sasuke was not glaring at him damn it!_ ). That was one of the rare moments he had seen a true smile appear on Sai's face. Nowadays he only expressed emotions when Naruto is around.

To his right Bee was clearly lost in thought. Sasuke felt a spark of curiosity go through him. Bee was maybe the only one who had an idea of what Naruto was up to since Gyuuki was involved in whatever he was planning. A week after he first started disappearing alone for hours a day, Naruto walked right up to Bee and asked him to go with him because I quote ' _Kurama and I have come up with this awesome idea and it involves the Bijuu so can you please come with me because I need Gyuuki's input._ ' Even though that was the only time Bee went with Naruto on his outing, no one missed the fist bump that was exchanged daily after he came back. Nor did they miss the way Bee had been thinking a lot more since then.

Neji was sitting close to the entrance of the cave. Periodically he activated his byakugan to look out for Naruto or enemies approaching. He had been almost single minded in this task every day. Neji did things with a startling amount of intensity. He had become focused on Naruto more than anything else, and Sasuke couldn't blame him for it. All of them were as, if not more dependent on their leader. They would all look at Neji when he moved because if he stiffened it would mean enemies were coming and when he sat up straighter it would mean it's Naruto. Nevermind that the enemy could be impersonating him. Kurama's chakra could only come from one person.

Shikamaru was sitting in the darkest corner of the cave. The man was a genius, even at pretending to be relaxed. Most of the time only Naruto could read him. But even Sasuke could see the shadows move out of the corner if his eyes. Everyone knew that only happened when Shikamaru was extremely emotional. Normally he was in control and he had to be because he was their strategist. And you couldn't be logical when you were emotional. It probably had to do with the fact that Naruto had been gone for longer than normal today.

Kiba was the picture of Feral. With his hair grown longer and the worn out look that they all have acquired from years of fighting, he could not come over more wild looking if he tried. His scars only empathised this. Lying against Akamaru ( _who was more bear than dog in Sasuke's opinion_ ) he was clearly working himself into a panic attack about his Alfa. The look in his eyes was dangerously close to the edge and Sasuke made a note to tell Naruto to talk Kiba back, or at least let him sleep curled up to the hokage tonight. He needed it.

Sasuke was painfully aware of how close they all were to losing hope. As second in command he was supposed to be stable and strong emotionally, but he knew himself well enough to say with absolute conviction that he wouldn't even be able to pass a psyche test if he tried. He couldn't remember a time after he was seven that he would _EVER_ be able to pass a psyche test. He had his sharingan constantly activated 24/7 and he was probably the most paranoid bastard of them all.

Sasuke gave a quick glance to Shikamaru who was now looking towards the opening of the cave with an almost desperate look in his eyes. Hell, every one of them looked like that more often than not when Naruto was away. Their Leader was ridiculously strong, a one man army, a master strategist, a seal master, a jinchuuriki, a sage and could come out alive of the most dangerous situations, but they still worried when he was not with them because he was their light, and without him they would probably all forsake the world and quit trying to live altogether.

* * *

Naruto made his way down the mountain in sage mode so he could sense if there were any Zetsu's nearby. He was ridiculously pleased with himself. They completed the seal! Kurama and him had spent most of their time on it since the war went bad and they never believed that they would ever have to use it. But things couldn't get any worse and he hated how their group was slowly losing hope, so they went to Gyuuki for input and it helped enormously. They finally found a solution to the biggest problem that they kept getting stuck on for the last few years and today their masterpiece was finally completed!

Naruto was almost at the cave that their group had been using as headquarters for a while now, so he let himself fall out of sage mode and drew on Kurama's chakra to let them know he was coming.

* * *

 **SHIKAMARU'S POV**

As soon as Neji sat up straighter it was as if there had been life blown into the previously unmoving statues of people in the cave.

Kiba immediately drew himself out of whatever panick attack he was having to spring up and run towards the entrance of the cave to welcome his Alfa back together with Akamaru.

Shino walked after him in a deceptively slow pace, but the anxious buzzing of his kikaichuu had almost stopped completely in just a few seconds.

Sai stopped drawing and focused with a startling amount of intensity on the entrance of the cave just like Neji.

Bee was so lost in thought he didn't seem to notice the commotion. He snapped out of it however as soon as Neji laid a hand on his shoulder.

Sasuke was doing his best to look indifferent but you could see his sharingan spinning at high speed, showing exactly how much relief he felt at that moment.

I myself was calming down considerably and as soon as I got Naruto in sight the shadows embraced him like he was one of them and he let me. He threw me an amused glance though as soon as he was done with the others, and that tiny action threw any emotional tension from the last few months out of the window because he responded. _He responded._ And that could only mean one thing.

He was done.

Whatever he was doing for the last few months, he was done with it. Now he could be with us ( _ME!_ ) again where he belongs. Naruto was their leader, their hokage, their hope, their saviour, their reason for living, _HIS_ reason for living.

Shikamaru was well aware that his line of thought couldn't be entirely healthy but he didn't give a shit. He had lost everything to the war. Uchiha Madara had been responsible for Asuma's death, his parent's death, and for Ino and Chouji's death. He had fought for all of Konoha untill there was no Konoha anymore. He had fought for all the people he cared about in till there was only this tiny group left. And he had been so tired of fighting. But Naruto was the one they fought for, and he never gave up. _EVER_. So they followed him through all his crazy plans and the war onto the battlefield, and they had survived.

Of all the remnants of the shinobi alliance after it had fallen apart only _THEY_ had survived.

All of them had stood on that edge, some of them more then once. But Naruto had dragged them back kicking and screaming ' _cause-NO-Shikamaru-you-are-not-going-to-end-your-life-because-of-that-shitty-bastard-no-matter-how-many-times-you-try-and-I-WILL-NOT-FUCKING-STAND-FOR-IT!_

He was eternally grateful for that. Naruto was the light to his shadow and ever since the thought struck him it became as essential for his life and continued survival as his nindo. The only thing a shadow can do after all is follow the light where it guides you.

Ever since he hasn't tried to take the cowards way out.

* * *

When he came inside Kiba and Shino where waiting for him and he was immediately assaulted by Akamaru. Something close to a whine made it's way out from Kiba's throat. Naruto knew there was something wrong. Kiba bared his neck. When Naruto saw Kiba's behaviour a brief frown flickered over his face. This wasn't normal. He drew Kiba up from the ground and gave him a hug. That had always helped.

Kiba was always the most touchy of all of them. He explained a long time ago that the reason was because of his clan instinct. The Inuzuka are descendants from a wolf spirit and a human. They formed a clan closely resembling a wolf/dog pack. Their clan also encouraged pack behaviorism. The Inuzuka's motto had always been sticking together and till this day they displayed canine behaviour and followed their Alfa with almost religious fervour.

Shino was almost as bad as Kiba with his animalistic behaviour. The first thing he did was send his kikaichuu out to explore every nook and cranny of Naruto's body. It was a very uncomfortable experience. Bugs crawling all over you was something you just couldn't get used to. Had there been even one tiny drop of blood present, Naruto knew he would not have gotten away from him for at least three days. He suspected that Shino saw him as the so called ' _Queen_ ' of the colony. He never had his guess confirmed however, and wasn't eager to either. It was kind of creepy to think that way.

The next person that greeted him was Neji. He was as intense as always. Neji did almost everything with a single minded focus when it came to Naruto. He did everything he asked for and _more_ even. It was like his purpose was to live for Naruto. It unsettled him.

In that regard Neji and Sai were very similar. Sai only took it a step farther in proclaiming that he was a tool for ' _Naruto-sama'_ to use. Naruto had tried to talk them _both_ out of it, but it was no use. At least they both had stopped trying to take their lives. It was the only time he had _ever_ given them an order.

He thought that it could be related to the way they were brought up. Neji as a servant for the main house, and Sai as a devoted root shinobi. It was kind of ironic how he _saved_ them from those roles, only to be repaid by having them be devoted to _him_ instead of those they hate. Maybe its the only way they knew how to show appreciation. In the beginning he was put off by their attitudes. It rarely bothered him anymore now. He just accepted them for who they are. Every shinobi had their weird quirks after all, Naruto included.

Shikamaru's shadows slithered up his legs and gave him the equivalent of a hug. Naruto threw him an amused glance. ' _Still to lazy to come and do it himself_.' He thought. Shikamaru did so many things with his shadows it's as if he was one himself. Effortlessly sinking into the dark and coming out of nowhere. He could also travel through any kind of shadow. Sometimes he even sleeps in Naruto's shadow. Even with all that, Shikamaru was one of the more stable people from their group. He hadn't gone over the edge for almost 4 years now. Naruto was glad to have him.

Sasuke didn't need much greetings. He knew he didn't deserve it. He attempted to follow Naruto again today. Against his orders. He just couldn't help it. Unlike with the others, Naruto himself was the reason for most of Sasuke's mental problems. He just couldn't let the blonde go off on his own doing who knows what for who knows how long who knows where! Too many unknown factors, and the fact that Naruto won't tell him only fuels the fire. It meant that whatever it was is dangerous. So dangerous that Naruto didn't want them to get involved.

At first he couldn't follow him very long. But every time he has come a bit farther. Naruto's still to good to track though. Even more so with Kurama's help. The sharingan is spinning a lot while he looks at Naruto and slowly morphs into the mangekyou, as it always had.

Bee and Naruto practiced their daily ritual of bumping fists. This time however, Bee startled and after a few second gave a big grin to Naruto. ' _It's finally finished_ ' he thought. ' _Now I only have to stop him_.'

* * *

After they had all exchanged their greetings again Naruto took a deep breath.

"Guys," he started, "I have something to tell you."

Immediately the whole cave fell silent. The group had been wondering for a while now what he had been up to. But Naruto just couldn't give them hope if he wasn't 100% percent sure of it's success. That would be cruel to them, and with their fragile emotional states it could be quite literally the death blow.

After he had worked so hard to stay them all back from that edge, he would do anything to keep them away from there forever. He knew he had caused them anguish by being away from them every day, but it was better than letting them even an inch closer to the point of suicide again.

He could see that Kiba was dangerously close to that edge today, hopefully this will be the chance to stop them all from suffering and begin to heal.

"As you know," he begins, " I have been spending my days outside for a while now." They all nod. "I was setting up a seal that I have honestly been thinking of for a few years now." That startles them. They knew he had been up to something for a little over a month now, that Naruto had been planning this for years hadn't even crossed their minds.

"So, what is it for?" Asks Kiba for the rest of the group. Even Shikamaru didn't expect the words came out of his mouth next.

"A seal for time travel."

* * *

 **Authors note: Hi guys, I hope you liked the first chapter of Jaded! It's my first time writing a fanfiction so if there's any advice for future chapters, it's appreciated. Oh! Before I forget, THIS STORY WILL NOT HAVE SLASH OR ANY OTHER KIND OF ROMANCE. You can expect an update somewhere next week! Just PM me for any questions you might have. Till next time! XD**

 **XxNoblesse12**

 **Here's two questions for you.**

 **Why does Bee want to stop Naruto?**

 **What age will they be when they come back?**


	2. Future II

**A/n Hi guys, I hope you like this chapter. Please Enjoy!**

 **DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN NARUTO**

* * *

...

Stunned silence met his statement.

Naruto almost chuckled at the disbelieving faces they were making.

He supposed it was only natural to be overwhelmed when you were getting told that traveling through time was possible, so he quickly launched into an explanation before they all began to throw questions at him.

"I actually got the idea when I met dad through Kurama's seal.

I already knew that time-space jutsu existed. Take the Hiraishin or Kamui for example. Those are both based on the concept of travelling through time and space. They are, however, mostly based on the space part because time is considered impossible to create stable Jutsu's with.

But _seals_ are different. Seals with a time element are actually very common. Long term seals need to be stabilized so they can last. Sometimes for even a thousand years. Time is a very important symbol to fuuinjutsu. With jutsu's things go wrong as soon as you add the time element because of its nature. Time is immovable yet movable, time is temperamental yet calm, it is unchangeable yet it can change at any given moment. Jutsu's are simply too unstable to contain time. With seals, as long as the fuuinjutsu practitioner is proficient enough, the ink and paper act as a go-between the users chakra and the time element. It _Stabilizes_ it."

Naruto took a deep breath before he continued.

"You could _Technically_ time travel based on this concept. People have certainly tried a lot over the course of history. Hell, it's been tried so many times that 'Raiya warned me not to get it in my head to even think of trying it when we first started fuuinjutsu. All attempts of time travel recorded, ever, were met with failure. Their bodies just couldn't handle the stress and all of them were ripped apart in the process.

So when I met dad, it got me thinking. It was when he explained that he left his chakra in Kurama's seal so that he could meet with me when I was older."

* * *

 _ **FLASHBACK**_

 _"Ne, tou-chan?"_

 _Naruto and Minato were sitting in his mindscape._

 _"What is it?"_

 _"How can you even be here? I mean, you are interacting with me. That means you are more than just chakra."_

 _Minato gave him a proud look while he ruffled Naruto's hair. "You caught that didn't you? As expected of my son!"_

 _Naruto blushed a bright red hue_ _of embarrassment from the praise. "It wasn't that hard to figure out. No normal chakra can act like a soul." He grumbled. "Just explain it."_

 _Minato chuckled at the look on his sons face before growing more serious and launching into the explanation._

 _"When your mother and I were almost finished with the sealing we only had a little bit of chakra left running through our bodies. It certainly wasn't enough to last for at least two decades to let us meet you. So I did the only thing I could think of at the time."_

 ** _FLASHBACK ENDS_**

* * *

"So, what did he do?" Asked Kiba after a few moments.

Everyone was listening with rapid attention.

Naruto took a deep breath before answering with a mischievous glint in his eyes.

"He said he put his and mom's chakra core into the seal."

...

There was a thoughtful silence.

"How does that relate to the time travel seal?" Sai asked.

"With only dad's _chakra_ it wouldn't have worked." Naruto answered, as if waiting for them to get something. "But with his _chakra core_ he was standing before me like he was there in the flesh."

Shikamaru connected the dots first. "The fact it was his chakra core enabled him to interact like he was a living person." He said with a dawning look of realisation. "His chakra core contained his memories. You can see that because the chakra had his distinctive personality." He breathed out almost in awe. "Naruto, that is pure genius!"

"What?" Said Kiba. "I don't get it."

Surprisingly, Shino was the one who spoke up next. "If you think about it, it is only logical. Why? Because chakra is fundamentally half spiritual energy. The chakra core could indeed be made up of the spiritual part which is memories and all you've learned, while the physical part could run through our bodies."

"Exactly!" Naruto exclaimed enthusiastically. "And since what we have to send back isn't your _bodies_ but your _memories_ or _chakra core_ it could probably work. If we go by Shino's theory, the time element in seals doesn't work for physical energy. That is proved by the fact that a body just can't travel through time since that's where all physical energy runs.

But it was possible for dad to incorporate his spiritual energy, thus his memories or chakra core, in Kurama's time-space seal. That already proves that a chakra core can be used with the concept of time travel since the time element of the seal accepted his and mom's chakra into the array and didn't reject it."

Naruto closed his eyes and smiled softly. The group marveled at the first true smile they had seen on his face in a long while. Keeping his eyes closed, he continued speaking, missing the way all people kept their eyes glued to his happy face like they were men seeing water after a long journey through the desert without even a drop of the precious liquid.

"Since it is all a theory, it will be incredibly risky because it has never been tested. But it is sure as hell a lot better than sitting here and doing nothing, waiting to die." He finished.

The whole group looked elated. They slowly felt a spark of hope go through their hearts. It wasn't much, no. But it was more then they had for a very long time. Naruto had done it once again. He was truly their light in the darkness. The only one who would accept them when even they themselves couldn't.

* * *

"Yo, Naruto."

The one who broke the joyful silence was Killer Bee.

"You haven't told them what it's gonna cost you." The way he said it he sounded almost angry. Bee stopped rapping after his brother A died. He also didn't express his emotions a lot anymore, so the tone in which he said the sentence instantly raised their alarms and set them on guard

Then what he actually _said_ sunk in.

"What... is... it... Naruto." Sasuke instantly gritted out through his teeth. He just knew whatever Naruto was doing was dangerous! He shouldn't have thought even for a second that they could pull this off without _any_ repercussions. And as far as he was concerned _no one_ no matter _what_ hurt Naruto. Certainly not the blond himself. The Mangekyo Sharingan was whirling in his eyes, looking accusingly at his best friend and Hokage.

Neji's eyes zeroed in on their leader with frightening intensity. He was watching him for any sign of deception while he waited for the explanation. The only thought on his mind was what the hell Naruto would have to suffer through, and of it was even worth to try. He would think not. Any of them could and would pay whatever price there was to travel back in time. But Neji just knew that if the blond was harmed in any way by all of this, _none_ of them would want to even attempt it. They'd destroy the methods forever if needed to stop him.

Sai had probably come to a rather simular conclusion as Sasuke and Neji because his face was totally blank and void of emotions while his eyes conveyed his displeasure of the situation. "Naruto-sama..." he started in a very polite but still extremely scary and threatening voice.

Shino never voiced it when he was displeased with someone. But you would know. _Oooh, you would certainly know_. If not by the buzzing around him that sounded three times louder and more agitated than normal, then by the way his aura had gone from stoic and cold to extremely menacing in seconds.

Kiba had gone completely and unnaturally still. His bangs were shadowing his eyes and you couldn't read his face. By reading body language however you could see all you needed to know. He looked _extremely_ tense, like he would be ready to spring into action immediately if it was needed. At that moment, if Naruto had tried to run of or do something equally stupid, Kiba would have restrained him effortlessly because a silent Kiba was a Kiba you just _don't mess with_. Akamaru was growling in the back of his throat, sensing his master's distress and anger.

While all this was going on Shikamaru's brain was speeding through the conversation they just had in record time. He examined the theory from all different angles, looking for what the _repercussion_ ( _he sneered the word in his mind with distaste already_ ) could possibly be. What had the Hokage left out of the explanation. The shadows around him seemed to lash out at everything in the vicinity, painting a frightening picture. Luckily the others were all too deep in thought themselves, because if they had looked at Shikamaru at that moment, they would have seen some sort of shadow demon instead of their friend.

" _You_." Bee stated.

He was all to happy to make the group see what Naruto was attempting to do right under their noses. What he was planning to make them watch while they could do nothing about it. Their attention had zeroed in on him the moment he spoke. Naruto looked at Bee with a desperate plea for silence.

He continued explaining, giving the blond an unimpressed look back.

"You have been talking about _YOU_ the whole time. Not _US_."

Immediately there were outraged cries coming from almost everyone.

Naruto slumped his shoulders in defeat. He had hoped that Bee hadn't figured that part out yet. But apparently Gyuuki had told him everything.

 _DAMN BIJUU_. He grumbled in his mind. He got an amused snort from Kurama back.

"Ok guys, let me ex..." Naruto started. But he was cut off almost immediately.

"No." Sasuke growled as he grabbed him by the collar, slamming him against the wall. While he was held there pinned by the Mangekyo Sharingan, Naruto felt his ankles being grabbed by shadows. He looked over at Shikamaru, only to see darkness staring back at him. The only thing he could make out were two _glowing_ onyx eyes before he was forced to look to the exit of the cave where Neji, Kiba and Sai had positioned themselves in a way that even _Naruto_ couldn't escape. The three looked positively _livid_. Shino had his kikaichuu sit on Naruto's body so they could suck the chakra out of him at the first opportunity. He hadn't thought his aura could look any more _menacing_ , yet it clearly was.

Bee ( _the traitor_ ) simply stared at it all before coming to a decision that was long overdue. He sighed and borrowed Shikamaru's catchphrase for the occasion. It was oddly fitting. "Troublesome..." he muttered under his breath.

"Yo, Naruto." Bee began.

"I have known for a while now that you don't seem to know what people think of you. Hell, you don't seem to think very much of yourself. But it's high time it gets cleaned up, because you can't go through life thinking like that when you have people depending on you. This was a lesson my brother also had to learn before he was named Raikage."

Everyone stilled.

Bee talked.

About A.

He _NEVER_ did that.

"You see, before my father died, my brother was extremely reckless.

He would go off on his own whenever he wanted. He would follow the enemy back home to their territory, even if that home had a thousand more waiting for him.

When father and his squad took A with them on a mission, he ran of again. He saw tracks from the enemy and followed them right to their army.

My brother himself was careful enough. He was not however considerate of his team and my father. They had immediately upon his disappearance panicked. And when they saw the tracks, they thought that he was knocked out and taken instead of just going of on his own.

My father and his squad followed the tracks and also came upon the enemy army. My father being a hothead, immediately confronted them on his own. While A was actually headed back home like he always did after he ran of, my father had gotten to hear that A was killed since the enemy was falsely accused of kidnapping him. It made them angry, so angry in fact they decided to taunt him with his sons supposed death.

My father went in a rage.

He attacked them and was soon standing on the battlefield. Alone against an army. What he didn't know is that the army was already preparing for war with Kumo and they had three other encampments in the vicinity.

Finally getting that it was the Raikage that was standing before them, and not some no-name Kumo shinobi. They decided to just kill him, and called for reinforcements.

The Raikage deduced from the numbers of the enemy that it was their INTENTION to invade Kumo. He send his squad out to the village knowing he would die to warn them as is known the last order from the third Raikage.

He stood his ground for three days and three nights before he was finally killed.

My brother back home heard the news from his fathers squad who were apparently astonished that he was alive the whole time.

A raged about it for weeks. Guilt waging him down.

The point is that if he had only told father what he was going to do he might have lived to see another day.

His death was on A's hands. That is the cold hard truth of the matter. My brother underestimated the reaction of his squad because he thought they wouldn't care if he'd go off on his own.

That was his biggest mistake, and he learned from it. Because he never went to do something on his own again without at least informing anyone."

Bee stopped his story and looked Naruto straight in the eyes.

"Naruto, at this point you're A.

You went and planned to do something stupid on your own without telling anyone. And I can see that you are blind to how all these people around you would react if they'd lose you.

I don't want to see you make the same mistake my brother made because you are also family to me. And I refuse to let you go and power the seal without telling _everyone_ what _exactly_ it will do to you because _I_ unlike _you_ know what it will do to them if you went of on your own like A did.

So I'm just gonna go right out and say it."

The atmosphere was tense. The group waited with bated breath for the repercussions the seal would have on Naruto.

Naruto himself was struggling in Sasuke's grip, determined to get Bee to shut up because he knew _JUST FINE_ how everyone would react to him powering the seal. They would know the future was more important than him. They would know that. They would know that and _live on_.

He struggled. He tried his hardest to get out of the _shadows that held him in place_. He tried his hardest to _get the damn chakra sucking kikaichuu of him_. He tried his hardest to _escape Sasuke's grip_. But he knew he couldn't get to Bee in time to stop him from saying what he apparently wanted to be _out in the open_.

"The one who powers the seal _DIES_."

...

Silence.

A single thought went through their minds in perfect unison.

 _ **'NO!'**_

* * *

Naruto resigned to the fact that everyone now knew what the plan was. He hadn't wanted to cause unnecessary pain before he left them, go out with a spectacular BANG. Like he always wanted.

It was not to be apparently.

 _DANG_!

Oh well. They would still go. He told himself. They would still go because saving the future was more important than one life. Kurama would be okay. He'd just reform. Not that it mattered. When the past changed it would be like it never happened. He had faith in his friends. They could do it. He was certain of it. He was prepared to die.

He was finally drawn out of his musings as he heard a sharp intake of breath.

Come to think of it, there was a distinct lack of reaction here.

His curiosity got the better of him as he opened his eyes. _(When had he even closed them?)_

The first thing he was met with was the ashen grey face of Uchiha Sasuke.

The second thing he saw was that his grip on his collar had loosened enough to wiggle himself free. He decided that it was now or never, so he moved with the intention to throw Sasuke of him.

The second Naruto twitched, the whole room moved into action.

Bee looked on, feeling quite _smug_ about himself, when Naruto was _knocked out_.

* * *

 **A/n Hi guys, I hope you liked this chapter of Jaded! Thank you for the reviews, favorites and follows. I think I am doing quite good for my first fanfic XD. If you have any questions just PM me. I've decided that every chapter has to be at least 3,000 words. A promise to myself. I will update sometime next week.**

 **XxNoblesse12**


	3. Survive

**A/n: Hi guys, I just wanted to inform you that the lovely lady Maintenant has offered to be my Beta for this story! She is honestly an amazing writer, and you should check out her profile. We have the same taste in stories XD. Without further ado, Enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.**

* * *

"Neji, Shino, Sai." Sasuke ordered.

The three looked up at him with unrestrained fury on their faces. Their fists were clenching, pressing their nails into their palms, in an attempt to get their emotions under control. I knew that if the most stoic and emotionless of them all looked like this, the rest would be _much_ worse. I was glad I had my back turned to Shikamaru and Kiba at the moment. Sasuke continued speaking.

"I want you three to keep Naruto unconscious and immobilized. When he shows signs of waking up, knock him out cold again. Drain his chakra if necessary."

Neji, Shino and Sai nodded with a grim look on their faces. Seeing that he had their assent, Sasuke continued speaking, giving a sharp glance to me.

"Bee. Take us to where that _idiot_ has made the seal, we're going to destroy it."

I wordlessly complied and led the way out of the cave into the mountains. Sasuke followed. Neji took Naruto on his back, Sai and Shino two paces behind them while Shikamaru and Kiba took the rear. They didn't see the smile in my face.

Everything was going exactly as planned. _good_.

It was laughable really, that I could predict their reactions to this extent while Naruto remained totally oblivious of how much he mattered to them. I knew for certain that the moment he was killed at least half, ( _if not all_ ) of the group would follow him to the afterlife. Sure, some of them would probably first go after Madara ( _for that was who's fault this whole war was in the first place_ ). But it would be with the intent to die soon after.

Sometimes I was amazed that Naruto could be so utterly _blind_ for someone who generally saw _so_ _much_. Though I suppose it was unavoidable with his childhood. The idea for someone to love him, depend on him so much that they would not want to live when he was dead was an entirely alien concept to the jinchuuriki.

The one who knew the most about Naruto's younger years from our group was probably me. Us three jinchuuriki always had a special bond, formed out of understanding of the burdens we all were forced to bear at a young age. Gaara and Naruto's bond together was stronger than mine ever was with either of them, but that didn't mean I was exempt of the swapping of childhood stories here and there. They had it worse than I ever had. It was honestly sickening, the things they had to go through as only _children_. I suppose that was what had drawn them so close in the first place. Had it been Gaara here today, and not me, he would undoubtedly be just as dependant on Naruto as the others.

It was a good thing It was me here then. _right_.

I noted that we were almost at the place he had made the sealing array.

Time to set in motion the next stage of my plan.

* * *

We arrived at the top of the mountain. Although it wasn't really a _top_ anymore since naruto had made it more of a platform than anything else. Carved out into the ground was the sealing array. I made sure to land in a position that had me at the back of the group. It wouldn't to if they saw my next move coming. The only reason that it had a chance of even working, was because they would never expect _me_ to attack them from behind.

As we came to a stop in front of the seal, I reached out to Gyuuki's power. Six long octopus arms stretched out from behind my back. I curled them around everyone and smacked them onto the sealing array.

I knew couldn't hold them there for more then three seconds, but that was enough time to activate the locking seal that Naruto had drawn earlier for exactly the same purpose I was using it for now. I felt myself locking into place with them and closed my eyes in concentration for the next step. Gyuuki slowly dissipated his chakra from my own to force the tentacles to disintegrate. That was the only way for me to not be caught into the locking seal as well. As soon as I opened my eyes, I was met with the furious gazes from the group. They couldn't move an inch. The only thing that allowed for movement was breathing and talking. Naruto was the only one proficient enough at fuuinjutsu to have had even a chance of escaping. And since he was unconscious at the moment, there was no way they were going to break the seal any time soon.

"What are you doing, Bee." Sasuke spoke through his teeth furiously.

"Activating the seal." I answered, while gathering all my chakra.

"You are _not_ activating the seal. Over my dead body!" Kiba shouted. "I _refuse_ to let Naruto die!"

...

When it stayed silent Shikamaru gave me a calculating look. "You are going to sacrifice yourself." He observed. "Why?"

I gave him a wry smile.

"Because Naruto clearly doesn't know what he means to all of you, and I am the only one with enough chakra besides him that can power the seal."

I already began to see double from chakra exhaustion.

"You can't do that! Think about Naruto and A. Do you think they would want you to DIE!?" Kiba shouted. He knew A was a taboo to speak of with Bee, but he couldn't care less at this moment. He wasn't going to lose another pack member.

 _A_.

I faltered for a moment.

"Think about this rationally." Neji spoke up. "None of us want you to sacrifice yourself, and by the looks of it you don't either." He reasoned. "So why bother to try? Changing the past is good and all, but we don't even know if we're gonna succeed. Let alone know if the seal even works."

As soon as he began talking about changing the past I renewed my efforts by doubling my chakra output.

' _I can't falter!_ '

As soon as I had that thought, I activated a silencing seal that Naruto had made there just as a precaution. They couldn't keep talking. I wasn't going to stop here, and I didn't need them to convince me otherwise.

Sasuke tried to open his mouth to speak, only to find it was locked in place just like the rest of his body. At that point they began to glare furiously at me. ' _Typical_.' I thought with a choked laugh. ' _If the problem doesn't go away, glare at it_.'

* * *

After a few minutes of continued silence I was almost done.

I grabbed the last remnants of chakra left in my body before forcefully shoving it in the seal. It physically hurt to rip the last chakra from my system. All my instincts were telling me to stop, to take it back, but I let it go. The seal began to glow a chakra pale blue hue. I was now at the point of no return. _I was gonna die soon_.

"Listen to me." I said with the last of my strength. My body was already shutting down.

"I know all of you. You are _strong_. You are _resilient,_ and you don't back down on the face of danger. I believe you guys can change the past for the better, but you all need Naruto. He doesn't understand that, and that was the one fatal flaw in his plan. Without him the whole thing was not gonna work in the first place. I _do_ understand that.

Naruto's plan was to go back as far as possible. The younger you are when you arrive, the more there is to change after all. Your chakra core will slowly be integrated into your normal core over time. The first thing you should do when you arrive is meditate to sort through the memories. You'll go into a chakra induced coma otherwise.

I am Naruto's friend, his brother, and his last fellow Jinchuuriki. Please tell Naruto that I did this willingly and to stop blaming himself for everything that happened." As soon as I got a nod from all of them I continued.

"Naruto can tell you the rest of the plan when you arrive." I began coughing up blood like crazy. They all looked extremely alarmed and worried, but I knew there was nothing they could do. They knew it too. The locking seal was still in place after all. My knees collapsed from underneath me. I was to weak to keep speaking anymore.

I struggled to say more, tell them everything Naruto told me about his childhood. They needed to understand just how serious the situation in the past would be. I tried hard. So very, _very hard_ , but the only thing I could get across my lips was the word that we always said before going off to the battlefield.

In the silence of the morning, my last words echoed over the mountains of Kaminari no kuni. My home. _A's home_. And I hoped, no. I _knew_ with all my heart that in that moment the future could be changed. _Would_ be changed. The sun shone across the mountains behind me. Illuminating the place were Kumo once lay. That beautiful moment seemed to go on for _ages_.

Time stopped. And then I spoke.

" _Survive_."

With that, the seal activated in a flash of bright light, and their bodies collapsed like puppets without strings. Without their chakra core, their bodies didn't survive.

I slowly closed my eyes as I welcomed death.

' _I'm coming... A_.'

* * *

 **16 YEARS AGO**

 **ABURAME CLAN COMPOUND, WOODS**

5 year old Aburame Shino was walking through the woods, in search of rare bugs. He came here today with his father and 2 cousins, but in his pursuit of a particularly rare specimen of a butterfly, he had gotten separated from the group. Shino had, after a 15 minutes chase, captured the butterfly in his hands, cradling it as to not hurt the delicate insect.

Just as he was carefully examining it he got an enormous headache. His hands shot up to grab his head because of the overwhelming pain, crushing the butterfly in the process. Little Shino felt as if he got hit by a train as sixteen years of memories were crammed into his head. As soon as he remembered what Bee had said to them, ( _And he had lost ANOTHER person of the hive damn it_!) he fell into the traditional meditation stance. It took several hours to accumulate and sort through the memories, and as soon as he opened his eyes he had only one thought going through his mind.

 _Naruto_.

* * *

 **ROOT HOME BASE, TRAINING ROOMS**

A nameless root recruit was training with the rest of the new recruits when he suddenly keeled over unconscious. At least, that was what the recruit wanted them all to think. As soon as he got hit with 16 years worth of memories he _pretended_ to fall unconscious though. He was mindful of the words that Bee, ( _he couldn't protect what Naruto-sama held dear AGAIN_ ) had told them. He needed time alone to meditate.

The root instructor, being emotionless as he was trained to be, left him there on the ground while he signaled for the end of the session for today. In root, if you couldn't handle the training, you died. It was simple as that. They all left the training room without even glancing back to see if their fellow recruit was okay.

As soon as everyone had left, the now not so nameless recruit anymore, sat up and clutched his head with his hands. "Man, that hurts." Sai said. He was lucky that he had already gone through his pain endurance training at this point of time. Otherwise he would have shown an outward reaction to the memories as soon as they hit him. Sai meditated for hours before he snapped his eyes open, an eerie fake smile on his face, and a determined glint in his eyes.

"I'm coming, Naruto-sama."

* * *

 **HYUUGA CLAN COMPOUND, BRANCH MEMBER DORMS.**

Hyuuga Neji was staring in the mirror at the caged bird seal he had gotten only weeks before. He _hated_ his uncle. He _hated_ Hinata. He _hated_ the main branch. He _hated his fate_. Neji was brooding over fate, while looking in the mirror, when he suddenly felt a sharp pain piercing his head. ' _Is the main branch using the seal?_ ' He thought immediately.

He got hit with a ton of memories quickly after. _Sixteen years_ of memories to be precise. As soon as he got his shit together, he lay down on his bed to sort through the memories like Bee ( _May he find peace_ ) asked them to.

A few hours later, Neji left the clan compound in search of his leader.

* * *

 **INUZUKA CLAN COMPOUND, THE KENNELS.**

Inuzuka Kiba was playing with his new partner Akamaru, when he suddenly fell down onto the ground while clutching his head. Akamaru let out a few whimpers at his new owners distress. Kiba whined in the back of his throat when he was suddenly presented with sixteen years of memories. _His_ memories.

As soon as he realized that _yes_ , they had time traveled, and _yes_ , he was about five years old, he clutched Akamaru to his chest and sat down to meditate like Bee ( _Another pack member, lost_.) had told them to.

A few hours later, Kiba walked out of the compound with the excuse of walking Akamaru around the block. He was however, hell bent on finding his Alpha. ' _Like the rest of the group_ ' he supposed.

* * *

 **UCHIHA DISTRICT, MAIN FAMILY HOUSE TRAINING GROUND.**

Uchiha Sasuke was training his kunai throwing skills like he had seen his nii-san do ( _So cool!)_ , when he ran out of kunai. He ran to the bushes behind the target to pick them up again, while he grumbled to himself about still not being able to hit the board.

Just as he was about to pick the first kunai up, he fell on his knees while clutching his head with his hands. For a moment he could only feel a sharp pain going through his head as he tried to accumulate sixteen years of knowledge into his brain. As soon as Sasuke remembered what Bee ( _How would Naruto feel? He already knew._ ) told them, he hid behind the bushes as to not attract attention while still having a place to himself to meditate.

Several hours later, Sasuke opened his eyes. The Mangekyo sharingan was swirling an angry shade of red, one in each eye. He quickly deactivated his eyes because he didn't know what the chakra drain could do to him at the moment.

He stood up, and dusted himself off, before running out of the district in search for Naruto.

* * *

 **NARA CLAN COMPOUND, FOREST HILL.**

Nara Shikamaru shot up from his morning nap, lying on the grass. He had his head clutched in both his hands, as if in agony.

He was.

Sixteen years worth of memories were assaulting his brain at a high rate, leaving him quivering in their wake. Shikamaru immediately lay down again as he came to the same conclusion that Bee ( _that IDIOT, that STUPID IDIOT!_ ) had given them only moments ago. He needed to meditate.

Several hours later Shikamaru opened his eyes as he reveled in the presence of a world that could make his light happy again. He stood up and made his way down to Konoha to search for Naruto. Behind him, shadows from all over the forest darkened as they sensed the arrival of a new shadow master into this world.

* * *

 **KONOHA ORPHANAGE, THE BROOM CLOSET.**

Uzumaki Naruto was lying in his 'room'. He was bruised and probably had a broken arm from the beating he had received last night. His injuries always healed fast however, so he had decided to not further aggravate them by moving today.

Suddenly, his one good hand grabbed his head in pain. Sixteen years worth of memories crashed into him with the subtlety of an elephant. As soon as he had come to the conclusion that he was in the past he shoved his questions aside, ( _but deep inside he realized that the only person besides him that could have done this is Bee_ ) because he knew that he should meditate if he didn't want to fall into a chakra induced coma. Naruto ignored his injuries, and fell into his mindscape to meditate beside Kurama.

Several hours later, he opened his eyes and looked at Kurama with a sad look in his eyes. "It was Bee wasn't it?" He knew that Kurama could still experience the outside world when he was sleeping or knocked unconscious.

It was silent for a moment before Kurama answered in an uncharacteristically soft voice for the Bijuu. _**"I'm sorry, kit."**_

A pause. Then...

"I see." ' _Another death on my hands_.' He thought. "Let's find the others." Naruto stood up and exited his mindscape. Still ignoring the injuries, he made his way up to the hokage mountain. The others would find him there.

* * *

 **ON TOP OF THE HOKAGE MOUNTAIN**

Neji was the first to arrive. He took one look at Naruto and began to plot the death of whoever had hurt him. It would be gruesome, _oh, it would be gruesome_. He sat down with a pointed look from Naruto. It could wait. _for now_.

Sasuke was the second to arrive. Cold fury overtook him when he saw that the blond had been injured. The look in Neji's eyes told him that he was already plotting the assassination of the people that did this. _good_. Sasuke would help. He settled down to wait for the others.

Kiba was the next person to arrive. He smelled Naruto was here. He bared his neck as a sign of submission to his alpha before he looked up. They could immediately hear a low growl coming from his throat. The look in his eyes was positively _murderous_. He settled down with one look from Naruto however, and waited with Sasuke and Neji for the rest to come.

Shino walked out of the tree line a few minutes later. He had his kikaichuu buzzing around him. No doubt he had begun breeding them to be more like his old allies already. You could hear the moment he looked at Naruto, it was quiet for a second. Not soon after you could hear agitated buzzing from all around him, and Naruto was once again subjected to bugs crawling all over his body to assess the injuries. What Shino found was clearly not to his taste if his frown was anything to go by, and Naruto resigned himself to being guarded 24/7 for at least the next three days. Shino was never one to let him go until he was completely healed.

Shikamaru melted out of the shadows as he walked up towards them. He paused as soon as he saw his light. He was injured. _He was injured_. A crazed glint came into his eyes as his mind raced with tactics to wriggle the answer out of Naruto. The person who had done this would suffer. They would wish they were dead before _ever_ touching Naruto again. Of course he would be killed in the most painful way imaginable. One look at the others and Shikamaru knew he already had four accomplices.

Sai was the last to arrive. He flew down from the sky on an ink bird that he had clearly drawn himself. As soon as his feet hit the ground, the bird dissolved. He looked up with a fake smile on his face, only to find a group of thunderous expressions and a crazy amount of killing intent. Sai soon found out why, and his face and KI joined the others, his smile forgotten.

The one who hurt Naruto was going to pay.

In Konoha, several civilians and a few shinobi sneezed at exactly the same time.

* * *

 **A/n: Hi guys, I hope you liked the new chapter of Jaded! Thanks for all the reviews, favourites and follows! Just for clarification, here are the ages that they have come back to.**

 **Neji: 6**

 **The rest: 5**

 **That means after the kumo kidnapping incident, and before the Uchiha massacre. None of them are in the academy yet, but Neji starts next year. R &R XD**

 **I love you!**

 **XxNoblesse12**


	4. Pledge of Old

**A/n: Hi, here's the next chapter of Jaded. Enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.**

* * *

Naruto was positively baffled as to _why_ the others appeared to be so angry. One look at himself however, and understanding dawned on him. He probably woke up after another mob attacked him. His clothes were full of tears and smeared with blood, his right arm was bent at an odd angle, and his body and face were littered with bruises. He silently cursed himself for ignoring his injuries earlier. He would _never_ be left alone again.

Naruto knew that Kurama's chakra could heal him almost immediately, but the seal was still tightly screwed shut when he was five. He would have to undo all dad's work and that would take _way_ too long to complete just for one healing session. Not to mention that he couldn't just let Kurama's chakra leak out of his body in the middle of Konoha. But he'd be alright. He healed faster than normal anyways, so in tomorrow he would probably be okay again. He looked up as soon as he heard Shino clear his throat. A feeling of dread filled him.

"He has three cracked ribs, a broken arm and small cuts and bruises all over his body." Shino reported in a cold voice. Their expressions became even darker, if possible.

"Naruto, who did this?." Shikamaru asked.

"Eh? Don't worry everyone, I heal fast anyways. You don't have to know." Naruto said in a sheepish tone of voice. He attempted to rub the back of his head with his hand, but forgot that it was broken. So he flinched. He was almost immune to extreme pain, but even _he_ couldn't move a broken body part without at least flinching.

Everyone caught the brief look of pain on his face, and they all doubled their KI. It was kind of scary how four five year olds, and a six year old could be so utterly terrifying.

"Besides," Naruto continued, "I deserve it, for Bee." The look on his face was a mix of anguish, sadness and overwhelming guilt.

Now it was _their_ turn to flinch.

"That wasn't your fault Naruto." Sasuke spoke up. "He did it willingly. And going by your logic, we are just as guilty, if not _more_ , then you are for allowing it to happen."

"But I was the one who made the time seal." Naruto argued.

"Still, it is not in any way, shape or form your fault." Neji insisted.

"Besides, he wanted us to tell you not to blame yourself for his death. He probably knew you would feel guilty." Sai said.

With that, Naruto's shoulders dropped a little. "He really said that?" He asked in a small voice.

"Yeah." Kiba said in a gentle tone.

Naruto's shoulders sagged completely after hearing confirmation, as if freed of some great burden. "Okay." He said.

They were all relieved that Naruto seemed to accept that it was not his fault. The group protected him as much as possible, but the one thing they could not defend Naruto from was himself.

"Speaking of Bee," Shikamaru continued in a much lighter tone, "he said that you had a plan laid out for the future. So please explain our next course of action, Hokage-sama." They all perked up to hear what their leader had to say.

Naruto cleared his throat. "Okay then. Lets explain my plan. Since I was not actually included in it before," their faces darkened again at the reminder, "I only had a general outline of what you guys should do. So, first thing's first." He looked at Sai and Neji while speaking next,

"I will remove your seals. They are _disgusting_ , and I will not have _my_ people branded with such _abominations_." He spat out. "I was planning to give Bee the sealing formula, but since I'm here, I can do it myself. I need chakra paper for that though, so the next time we meet I'll bring some." Sai and Neji both looked relieved that they didn't have to walk around with 'a leash' so to speak anymore. The only one they would willingly bind themselves to was Naruto-sama.

"On to the next point. We need to train our bodies. Our spiritual chakra has just at least _tripled_ , and will continue to grow in the coming years. So to have a healthy chakra balance we need to up the physical chakra. We also need to relearn all our taijutsu, kenjutsu, ninjutsu, genjutsu, fuuinjutsu and other specialties. Our chakra control is shot. So for the coming two year we're going to start on physical training, and relearn as much as possible. We should end up at least low jounin level by the time we are done." When he got firm nods from everyone he stopped talking,

"How should we explain our behaviour?" Kiba asked a bit nervously. "I won't accept my mother as my alpha anymore, she'll notice. And I'm sure it is the same for the rest of the pack." Nobody looked up at the fact that he referred to them in wolf terms anymore. They were used to it.

"He has a point. I refuse to follow anyone but you, Naruto-sama. I'm not gonna take orders from my clan head or the sandaime." Neji said.

Everyone nodded at his words. They were not gonna take orders from anyone except their leader. Naruto looked up in bewilderment. They couldn't be serious right? The future was important! They couldn't just abandon their act for the sole reason of not wanting to take orders from their superiors! Shikamaru sighed, as he saw the look on Naruto's face. "Troublesome..." he muttered under his breath. "It seems that Bee was right."

At his words he got a sharp glance from Sasuke. "What do you mean?" He asked. Shikamaru ignored him in favor of looking at Naruto with a piercing gaze, as if he was searching for something. "We have to set this issue straigh. _right now_." Shikamaru was preparing himself for a lot of outrage from the rest.

"Naruto." Naruto looked at him with a puzzled expression. "We have to talk about this, rather sooner then later." Shikamaru took a deep breath. "You made the time travel seal planning to die in the process."

They all stiffened as they remembered that tiny tidbit of information. They had almost forgotten in between the ' _Yeah, time travel is real_.' and _'Holy shit, we're in the past!_ '. But Naruto had almost done the _one thing_ they could _never_ forgive him for. _Dying_. Their expressions were thunderous and they turned to their leader as one. Outraged cries filled the air.

"WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING!?" "YOU WOULD HAVE DIED!" "DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT YOU ALMOST DID TO US!?" "WHY WOULD YOU EVEN MAKE SOMETHING LIKE THAT!?"

Naruto just sat there, switching between a bewildered look on his face and glaring at Shikamaru for bringing it up in the first place. He finally had enough.

" **Silence**." He said in the commanding voice that he always used when giving out orders. "I know you wouldn't like it if I had died. And I apologize for planning to. But the future is more important than my life. I believed in you guys to do the right thing, and save the future so I wouldn't have died for nothing."

A stunned silence followed his words.

"See what I mean?" Shikamaru asked the rest of the group in a tired voice. "He really doesn't understand." One by one, looks of incredulity dawned upon their faces. Then, slowly, a determined glint came into their eyes. "We just have to _make_ him understand then." Sasuke said.

"What are you talking about?" Naruto asked.

Sasuke rounded on him with his eyes blazing in fury. "You are the densest person I have ever seen in my life! We would _die_ for you Naruto! We would lay our life at your feet, for you to use it as you please! You are our leader, our hokage, you are the _ONLY REASON_ WE ARE STILL _FIGHTING_! THE ONLY REASON WE ARE STILL EVEN _ALIVE_!" He began to shout at the end, willing Naruto to understand just how much he meant to them. How they depended on him. How the meaning of their lives were lost as soon as the blond left this world.

"We don't give a _fuck_ about the future of this world." Shikamaru said in a soft voice. That didn't mean it was gentle however, as there was a hint of steel underlining his words. " _You_ are our future. _You_ are our world. We would follow you _anywhere_. Even into the afterlife."

Now it was Naruto's turn to be angry. "Don't be ridiculous! What about your friends, your teachers, your _family_ , what about _Konoha_!? You shouldn't think this way! It isn't normal!"

"Then we're not normal." Neji said with a finality that clearly meant those words closed the topic for him.

Naruto looked at them incredulously for a moment, he was clearly trying to process what they were saying. "Y-you... YOU CAN'T JUST SAY SOMETHING LIKE THAT! DO YOU GUYS KNOW HOW HARD I WORKED TO SAVE THE FU..." " _Naruto-sama_!"

He got cut off by Sai. "The only one we will obey is _you_ , and if you can't understand that, we'll just have to make you."

Sai had been thinking of doing this for a while, and this seemed like the perfect opportunity to take. He grabbed a blade from his kunai holster and got on his knees before Naruto.

"I, Sai hereby forsake myself from any previous bonds. Be it country, village, religion, clan or order. I hereby swear my life, flesh and blood, to you, Uzumaki-Namikaze Naruto. I shall follow you until the end of this life, and into the next." He took the blade, and slit his palm. "So I shall swear. So mote it be."

Naruto was gaping at him, trying to process the fact that Sai had just _pledged himself to him_ , when all the others of the group decided that it was apparently a _great idea_ , and got on their knees too.

Shino was the first.

"I, Aburame Shino hereby forsake myself from any previous bonds. Be it country, village, religion, clan or order. I hereby swear my life, flesh and blood, to you, Uzumaki-Namikaze Naruto. I shall follow you until the end of this life, and into the next." He took the blade from Sai, and slit his palm. "So I shall swear. So mote it be."

Kiba followed.

"I, Inuzuka Kiba hereby forsake myself from any previous bonds. Be it country, village, religion, clan or order. I hereby swear my life, flesh and blood, to you, Uzumaki-Namikaze Naruto. I shall follow you until the end of this life, and into the next." He took the blade from Shino, and slit his palm. "So I shall swear. So mote it be."

The next was Sasuke.

"I, Uchiha Sasuke hereby forsake myself from any previous bonds. Be it country, village, religion, clan or order. I hereby swear my life, flesh and blood, to you, Uzumaki-Namikaze Naruto. I shall follow you until the end of this life, and into the next." He took the blade from Kiba, and slit his palm. "So I shall swear. So mote it be."

Now it was Shikamaru's turn.

"I, Nara Shikamaru hereby forsake myself from any previous bonds. Be it country, village, religion, clan or order. I hereby swear my life, flesh and blood, to you, Uzumaki-Namikaze Naruto. I shall follow you until the end of this life, and into the next." He took the blade from Sasuke, and slit his palm. "So I shall swear. So mote it be."

Neji was the last.

"I, Hyuuga Neji hereby forsake myself from any previous bonds. Be it country, village, religion, clan or order. I hereby swear my life, flesh and blood, to you, Uzumaki-Namikaze Naruto. I shall follow you until the end of this life, and into the next." He took the blade from Shikamaru, and slit his palm. "So I shall swear. So mote it be."

When they were done, their chakra spiked to unbelievable heights, before they suddenly felt a connection click into place. Where Naruto's chakra was a beacon before, now they could feel his very life force blazing like an inferno in the night sky.

Naruto was speechless. They had pledged themselves to him. _They had pledged themselves to him_. They had made a lifelong binding blood vow, and sworn themselves to him! Even _he_ knew what that meant.

The first thing all shinobi learned at the academy was the way things used to be. Before there were villages, the clan wars had taken their toll on the minds of the shinobi. Some were tired of fighting all the time, and left their clans to travel the world.

Those shinobi had much the same mindset as the samurai. They sought for the perfect person to serve. They pledged themself to their chosen lord, and served him loyally for the rest of their lives. So came forth the pledge of old. When a shinobi had sworn themselves to their chosen lord, it was much like a blood ritual. It forged a bond of chakra between them, and the stronger the bond was, the stronger the feelings of loyalty were when the vow was made. There were cases recorded of shinobi having lost their lord, and feeling so empty inside where the bond once was, that they took their own life to be released from their suffering.

Nowadays personally pledged shinobi didn't exist anymore. The villages had drawn the clans together, and a free shinobi had become a rare thing to see. They were basically extinct. Ninja's were little more then glorified mercenaries in the world.

Naruto couldn't believe that they had made _the pledge of old_ to him. He felt their chakra reaching out to his, and a bond was formed between them.

Naruto gasped. He could feel so many things basically _radiating_ from them. There was Loyalty, Pride, Relief, Determination and something else that he couldn't name. Where their chakra was like a small lightbulb before, it now felt like a beacon. Beckoning him to reach out and caressing him. He could feel what they were feeling, and he finally understood what they had been trying to say to him.

"I accept your oaths." He said serenely. He felt strangely calm. Naruto knew he should be angry, that he should reject them. But when he felt their inevitable pure and utter _joy_ at his acceptance, he couldn't bring himself to care.

"Rise." He ordered naturally. A shiver went down his spine when their chakra caressed him in thanks. The rest was not much better off. They all were quivering of the sheer force with which their chakra was basically _demanding_ them to obey the order of their chosen lord.

Naruto snapped out of his chakra induced daze when he felt several chakra signatures coming up the hokage mountain.

"The ANBU in the village felt our chakra spike for sure, just now. You guys need to go home for today. We'll meet again next week. Besides, it's getting late. Most of you should have been home for dinner. " Naruto said softly.

They snapped out of the daze that bonding with Naruto had brought them, and looked to see if it was indeed that late already.

Shikamaru silently cursed. "I should have been home an hour ago. Explaining this is going to be so troublesome..."

"The only thing on our mind for the years to come should be getting stronger. We have to be at least jounin strength if we are gonna face the events to come after all." Naruto said.

Sasuke stiffened.

They all knew what Naruto was talking about, the first big hurdle that they would have to overcome. It was one of the catalysts for Konoha's declining strength, and the reason for the defection of a secret hero of the leaf, Uchiha Itachi.

 _The Uchiha massacre._

* * *

 **A/n: Hi guys, I hope you enjoyed the next chapter of Jaded! Thank you so much for your reviews, favourites and follows XD. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to PM me. Next chapter we go straight to the Uchiha massacre! What do you think is gonna happen? I bet you'll never guess what went on the last two years! Mwhahahaha * _laughs evily_ *. Yeah, you heard me! Next chapter is a two year time skip! Hope you hang around for it. Expect it somewhere next weekend.**

 **I Love you**

 **XxNoblesse12**


	5. Yuugure

**A/n: Hi guys! I hope you like the new chapter, Enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.**

* * *

 **TWO YEARS LATER**

Uchiha Shisui was exited.

After a long year of grueling training at the hand of six sadistic children that were in his opinion the devils spawn ( _seriously, he thought he would DIE at times!_ ), he was ready for his first official mission.

Operation Uchiha was commencing tomorrow, and Shisui couldn't wait for the part that he had to play in it. Naruto-sama had graciously allowed _him_ to be the one to lay contact with Itachi, even though Sasuke-chan ( _Yes, he still called him that even though he was his superior and technically older than him_.) was also jumping at the chance to finally bring his older brother into the fold ( _and introduce him to Naruto of course_ ).

He thought back on the day he had first met the group with fondness.

When Shisui had been approached by the illusive Yuugure for the first time, he was not expecting them to be a bunch of children.

As a trusted ANBU of the sandaime ( _he refused to call him his hokage anymore_ ), Shisui was on guard duty when Jiraiya of the Sannin made one of his rare visits back to the village. Apparently his spy network had caught wind of a group of ninja, calling themselves Yuugure, going around and visiting several of the Jinchuuriki. He was very frustrated because none of his informants could find out _anything_ about them at all, and the Jinchuuriki in question were surprisingly tight lipped about anything regarding the organization.

Upon hearing his story, the sandaime had immediately ordered Naruto's ANBU guard to be tripled and on high alert. They couldn't have some unknown group of ninja contact him, and if _Jiraiya_ couldn't find out anything about this Yuugure, they were certainly good enough to cover their tracks of they decided to kidnap Naruto from the village.

Two months later, Shisui had been training by himself when a kunai had been thrown at him from behind. He dodged of course, and immediately began looking for the one who attacked him. Puzzled, because he saw or sensed nothing in the direction where the weapon came from, he slowly turned around to look at the kunai.

There was a scroll tied to it.

Still on high alert, he opened the message, ready to body flicker away at a moment's notice if it suddenly blew up in his face. That hadn't turned out to be necessary. He could still remember with crystal clarity what the scroll said.

 ** _We know about the Uchiha coup._**

 ** _Meet us in three days on the border of Suna._**

 ** _Yuugure_**

Shisui had felt perplexed.

Yuugure? _That Yuugure_? The one that was going around talking to the Jinchuuriki of all people? What kind of interest did they have in _him_? How did they even know the elders were planning a coup? They only presented it in the meeting _last night_ _!_ How good was their information network if they _already_ knew about it? Did the group have any Uchiha in their ranks? Or had someone been spying on them? If they _had_ been spying on them, what were their objectives?

After mulling over the message for several hours, he decided that he should go and meet them alone. He didn't know if it was a wise decision to go to the meeting place, but his gut was telling him that if he decided _not_ to, he would regret it. And if there was one thing that you learned as a shinobi, it was to always trust your instincts.

That decision had turned out to be the best one he had ever made in his life, and he thanked the gods every day for presenting the opportunity to him.

Because Yuugure had become his _home_.

The base had become his place to just let his guard down and relax ( _that was what a home was supposed to be, right?_ ), and the members had become his _family_. Shisui's father had died when he was young, and his mother had rejected his very existence upon learning of his death, overcome by pain, for every time she saw him, she saw her husband looking back. He was shunned by the clan for his abnormal personality, he was shunned for expressing his _emotions_.

He had a mother before, he had a clan, and he had a best friend. But he didn't have a _home_ or a _family_.

It didn't matter that more than half the members were adults in children's bodies, it didn't matter that most of them had _mutations_ that made them _abnormal_ , it didn't matter that they were _hunted_ for their _bloodlines_ , it didn't matter that some of them were _Jinchuuriki_ , _it didn't matter that he didn't fit the mould of a perfect Uchiha_. They accepted him for who he was, and Shisui knew he could never betray them from the moment he realized that.

As he walked out of his room in the base, he began to think about his part of the mission tomorrow. He had been through several ideas on how to approach Itachi, but he hadn't found a method which would ensure his cooperation with Naruto-sama's plans.

Just talking to him about it wouldn't do, the bastard would murder him anyway, and be on his merry way to the massacre. When he heard _that_ tiny tidbit of information, Shisui was mad for a while. Because _best friends_ don't just _murder each other for power damn it!_

But he got over it. Itachi had turned out to be the good guy, even though he had murdered his clan. On orders of _Danzo_ of all people. And tortured Sasuke-chan with the Mangekyo sharingan. Which he got from _murdering Shisui_.

Okay, so he was _not_ over it. _Sue him._

Itachi was going to get payback, and the mission was the perfect opportunity to scare him a little. Shisui hadn't learned nothing from the sadistic children that he called his family who he was trained by for a year. He could dish out a mean portion of revenge ( _especially pranks_ ) of his own. He learned from the best. No _normal_ seven year old could outrun ANBU and not get caught for painting the hokage mountain in a bright orange jump suit _everyday_ after all. Naruto-sama was to the ANBU what Tora the demon cat was to the genin.

Thinking about how he was going to pay Itachi back, Shisui walked into the 'living room' so to speak. Naruto, Shikamaru and Sasuke were present for a strategic meeting, going over the plans for one last time to see if they really hadn't overlooked anything.

As soon as Naruto noticed him however, a fox like grin flickered over his face for a second.

"Oi Shisui, don't traumatize Itachi too much." He said.

At his words, Shikamaru and Sasuke looked up and greeted him. Shisui saluted lazily, before he answered Naruto.

"I'll try to leave him in one piece for you Naruto-sama. But no promises." He said with a mischievous grin on his face.

"Going out?" Shikamaru inquired.

"Yeah, I need to attend a clan meeting tonight."

The mood turned solemn after his words. Clan meetings always were about the coup nowadays, and the only reason they allowed Shisui to attend them at all was because of information gathering. They knew that it pained him to be present at such meetings, but it didn't stop him from going anyway to be useful.

"Be careful." Sasuke said after a short period of silence.

Shisui's eyes softened. "Of course I will be careful, Sasuke-chan" he said, knowing it would rile Sasuke up to hear him call him that. He was right.

Sasuke's normally cold and blank face twitched. "Don't call me that despicable name!" He shouted after Shisui, as he was making his way up to the reception room, cackling with glee.

Shikamaru only let out a sigh at their behaviour. "Troublesome..." he muttered under his breath.

Naruto only grinned "Well then, let's get this over and done with!"

With that, the three bowed back over their work. The operation had to go _perfect_ after all.

* * *

 **THE NEXT DAY**

Uchiha Itachi was stressed.

He was the heir the the Uchiha clan, and you had many responsibilities coming with the job. He had to attend every clan meeting, dinner, birth, marriage or death, as was his duty. And all that while spying on them, pretending to spy on the hokage at the same time, and now that he was an ANBU captain, also successfully completing highly dangerous missions in between.

Yes, Uchiha Itachi had a stressed life.

So when his best friend, and also the only one who knew about him being a double agent, approached him with an abnormally serious look on his face, he figured that there was probably going to be _another_ thing to stress out over. Because Shisui just _never_ had a serious look on his face.

'S _weet revenge..._ ' Shisui thought, before starting his act.

"Itachi, you have to come quick. Sasuke-chan's hurt."

 _what_.

It took him exactly three seconds to process the words properly. Immediately after Itachi was on the move, running at high speed towards the hospital, or the house, or wherever his otouto was. Shisui took the lead, and was going towards the training grounds of their house. On the outside Itachi was as stoic as ever, but on the inside he panicked.

His mind was running a mile per minute. What happened? Did Sasuke hurt himself when training? Did someone hurt Sasuke? How badly was he injured? Who did he have to _kill_?

When they arrived on the training ground however, there was no hair of Sasuke to be seen. He turned around to ask Shisui where the hell his otouto was, but before he could even open his mouth he felt someone knock him out from behind. _Shit_. He had lost his composure, and let his guard down.

As he was quickly losing consciousness, the only thought in his mind was...

' _What the hell just happened?'_

* * *

 **BACK AT THE BASE**

Everyone from Yuugure currently in Konohagakure was impatiently waiting for Shisui to bring the target back. Sasuke most of all. On the outside he was his stoic self, but Naruto could feel his agitation and nervousness through the bond. He tried to send calm waves of emotion back, since knew that helped most of the time, and it worked. Sasuke's shoulders dropped a miniscule amount. He sent a grateful look his way.

Kiba, Shikamaru, Shino, Neji and Juugo were the only ones in the base at the moment. Shin and Sai were on a mission for root, Haku and Kimimaro were on a mission for Yuugure in Kiri, and Gaara and Fu were visiting Utakata for the yearly check up on the Jinchuuriki.

Finally they heard the sound of someone melting through the ceiling. And the only people who could do that were allowed in to the seals. No one could come in, or get out, without the permission of Naruto. Since the only one that was due to return to the base now was Shisui, it was safe to say that he had come back.

And they were right. Walking in casually, with and unconscious thirteen year old Itachi swung over his shoulder was Uchiha Shisui. And by the look on his face ( _he was grinning like a loon_ ) he had most likely gotten back at Itachi for murdering him.

"Delivery!" He exclaimed cheerfully. "Another kid to add to this lovely collection of totally innocent children. I am beginning to lose hope that someday a responsible adult will be among us."

Kiba snorted. "Just put him down in the interrogation room. You have the job to convince him. If it doesn't work, Sasuke's on standby. We'll wait here." He said.

Shisui tapped two fingers to his forehead in mock salute. "Aye aye, sir." He said, and promptly made his way over to the T&I rooms.

Naruto appeared to have been reading Sasuke's thoughts on the matter because he gave him an elbow in the ribs, and said only one word, "Go."

Sasuke nodded gratefully before he rose from his seat and made his way over to the room from which you could watch all interrogations by standing behind tinted glass.

* * *

 **IN THE T &I ROOM**

Itachi was beginning to wake up from unconsciousness and deliberately slowed his breathing as to not let whoever kidnapped him know he was awake. It failed however, because as soon as he had fully recovered a disturbingly familiar voice began speaking to him.

"You can open your eyes, I know you are awake."

His eyes flew open, no use for pretenses anymore.

"Shisui." He breathed out.

"Yep, that's me!" His best friend, who had apparently _kidnapped_ him, said in an amused tone. "What the hell do you think you're doing!? Why did you bring me here!?" Itachi demanded.

"Well the answer to your first question would be talking to you. The answer to you second however, lies a bit more complicated. It depends on you." Shisui gave him a careful as assessing glance that frankly unnerved him. He had never seen Shisui so serious before, not even when the clan coup was announced. "I brought you here to talk about sensitive matters which can not be discussed outside of this base."

His mind raced through all the possibilities, "The coup." Itachi instantly concluded.

Shisui nodded. "Among other things, yes."

"Let's start with your little talk with Danzo however." Itachi stiffened. He hadn't talked to anyone about that, and the room was secured by Danzo's men. There was no way Shisui knew about what had taken place last week, unless... "Are you with root?" Itachi inquired carefully.

To his relief, Shisui simply laughed it off. "Ha! No way, do you see me being an emotionless drone? I would be the perfect Uchiha if that were true."

"Then how do you know?" He asked.

"I'm not with root, Itachi. Who I _am_ working for is a different organization." Shisui's eyes took on a hardened glint.

"I'm with Yuugure."

Itachi almost choked on his own spit. Yuugure!? The organization that has been going around talking to Jinchuuriki!? The same Yuugure that Jiraiya of the sannin failed to find!? What the hell was Shisui doing with them!?

"For how long?" Itachi asked.

"Oh, for about a year now." He said nonchalantly, like he was talking about the weather instead of _joining an unknown organization that had been in contact with several Jinchuuriki and being a part of the group that even Jiraiya of the Sannin couldn't find._

Itachi was dumbfounded by what his friend was telling him. The only thought he could muster up was... "Why? Why are you telling me all this? Why have you brought me here? Just... _why!_?"

"To recruit you of course." Shisui said.

...

"What." It wasn't a question. It was a demand for answers. And if he didn't get them soon, he would... yeah. What would he do? It sunk in right then and there. He had been kidnapped by an unknown organization, and he had no idea where he was. He could be in the middle of Iwa for all he knew. Trying to escape without knowing your surroundings was suicidal to a shinobi.

Shisui cleared his throat. "Listen, just hear me out." Itachi wordlessly nodded. It wasn't like he had much of a choice after all.

Genius or not, he would have never guessed what came next.

Shisui spun a tale about the coup, he told him about invasions, Orochimaru, the death of the hokage. He told about the Akatsuki, the hunt for the Jinchuuriki, ANOTHER invasion, the great shinobi alliance, and the fourth great shinobi war. He told him about the Juubi and Uchiha Madara and his history with the first hokage. He told him about Obito and sharingan no Kakashi. He recounted battles that were devastating, resulting in the loss of thousands of lives. Old friends and kage's coming back to life to fight against them, and what Madara was planning for the world. The final Tsukuyomi.

And when he was finally done talking, it just clicked. This had happened. It couldn't _not_ have happened with the details of that story being so completely accurate. Someone ( _probably the leader_ ) of Yuugure had knowledge of the future.

Shisui saw Itachi connect the dots. He wasn't called a genius for nothing after all.

"So, Do you want to join Yuugure, Itachi?"

Itachi didn't even have to think that long about the answer. The only thing he wanted was _peace_ after all, and the future that he had chosen before was obviously the exact opposite of that. What his other self had done, no. What _he_ was about to do was not the way to go about it. If saving the future meant realigning his allegiances to Yuugure instead of Konoha, he would gladly do so. He had done it once before with the Akatsuki after all.

"I will join Yuugure." He said with a soft but determined voice.

" _Good answer_." Came a childish voice from the doorway.

* * *

 **A/n: Hi, guys! So, did you like this chapter of Jaded? I put in a cliffhanger in just for you Mwhahahaha *laughs evilly*. Thank you for your reviews, favourites and follows XD. I'm happy my fanfic is well liked. So, next chapter Itachi meets some people from Yuugure, and the base is explored and explained a bit.**

 **The version of the future that Shisui has told Itachi is one where only the big events relevant to the war were covered. He doesn't know who the time travellers are, and that he died in the future. He also doesn't know that Sasuke defected or that he was the one that killed him. Naruto being the Hokage was also left out. Shisui thinks it's their story to tell. The next update is again next weekend!**

 **I love you**

 **XxNoblesse12**


	6. Shock

**A/n: Hi, here's the next chapter of Jaded, Enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.**

* * *

"Good answer." Came a childish voice from the doorway.

Itachi's head snapped up, while Shisui turned around to greet the new addition.

"Yo, Shikamaru."

To Itachi's amazement, in the doorway stood a seven year old child.

"I'll take it from here." Shikamaru said. "Leader-sama wants to see you." As soon as Shisui heard the order, he was on his way to the living room, leaving behind a bewildered Itachi and an amused Shikamaru.

Giving a chuckle at Shisui's eagerness to follow Naruto-sama's orders, Shikamaru turned to introduce himself. "Hi, I'm Nara Shikamaru, head strategist of Yuugure, and the one who is going to be your mentor for your first year here." Here his eyes took an odd glint, "I'm also one of the time travellers of Yuugure."

Itachi wasn't labeled a genius for nothing, and caught on to what he was saying immediately. "Travellers? There's more than one?"

Shikamaru looked pleased. "That's why I asked to be your mentor, you catch on quickly. Yes, there's more of us, to answer your question. Six, to be precise. You'll get to meet five today." He stood up and moved towards the door. "I'll take you on a tour later, we're at headquarters after all. Follow me." Shikamaru walked out of the room, Itachi following close behind.

For the first time in the three hours that he had been here, Itachi looked around. It seemed that they were underground. The walls, floor, and even the ceiling were all made of solid earth.

As they were walking through the corridors, Itachi couldn't help but ask a question that had been plaguing his mind since he first saw the Nara. "Shikamaru-san, is every time traveller as young as you are?" Itachi carefully inquired. It disturbed him a that the one supposed to be his mentor was physically seven. He was careful to treat the Nara like he would an adult, but it was hard to, when he was basically as old as Sasuke.

Shikamaru snorted. "Yes, five of us are seven, one is eight. We came back when we were five and six, so we are all as 'young as I am' as you so tactically put it." They walked a while in comfortable silence.

"We're here." He stopped before door bigger than the ones that they walked past on their way. Just as Itachi moved to open it, he heard a sigh from beside him. Shikamaru looked at him with a frightening amount of intensity for a seven year old.

"Listen, since I'm gonna be stuck with you for the rest of the year, I'll just warn you. Don't be too surprised, and watch what you say. I'm a lot more open than the rest of the travellers, and the one you will no doubt be asking the most questions from, is not."

Itachi's mind was racing. What the Nara said wouldn't make any sense, unless there was someone that he _knew_ behind that door. He went over all seven and eight year olds that he was acquainted with in his head. There were several clan heirs that age, and as an heir himself he had to know a lot of them. His little bro... _no_. That couldn't be true. He shoved the thought out of his head as violently as possible. There was no way, because Sasuke hadn't been acting any differently for the past two years.

Content with his logic, he inquired lightly, "Any other advise Shikamaru-san?"

"Just remember to be careful, and..." Shikamaru's eyes took on a hardened glint. "Don't disrespect the leader." With that he opened the door, and walked inside.

* * *

The first thing Itachi did was examine the room.

It was kind of like a living room actually. There were two big blue couches that could probably fit about 6 people each, standing across each other. In between them, was a table with a miniature real life map of the elemental nations on it. There were all kinds of colored dots and figurines standing on odd places on the surface.

The room was probably also used as a point for strategic meetings then.

At the head of the table stood a big black ( _and, wait... was that ORANGE_ _?_ ) chair. It was obviously comfortable and well used, and could probably pass of as a throne if you didn't see it in this homey setting.

It was then, that he began to look at the people present.

The first thing that caught his attention was that there were obviously no adults present here. The oldest child looked about _Itachi's age_. Seeing that he was thirteen, it was baffling that an organization made up of children was so skilled at evading detection.

His eyes glided over the people sitting around the room.

He recognised some of them. The Aburame heir, A Hyuuga ( _must be a branch member_ ), Shisui, Shikamaru-san, an Inuzuka, someone not from Konoha ( _he would certainly remember meeting a kid with orange hair_ ), and...

Itachi paused.

Sitting on the black and orange chair, was the Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi, Uzumaki Naruto.

He was obviously the leader, if his aura was anything to go by.

Strangely enough, the others in the room looked to a point somewhere _behind_ the young Uzumaki.

Puzzled, because he couldn't sense anything, he followed their eyes to a shadow in the corner.

Itachi's heart stopped beating.

Because there, stepping forward into the light, was his younger brother.

 _Sasuke_.

"Wha..."

His words got stuck in his throat. _No_. It couldn't be. His innocent, sweet, loving, happy otouto stood there in the corner behind the Uzumaki. His young unblemished face that was normally smiling, wiped from any and all emotions.

Itachi felt like he got sucker punched in the stomach. ' _CauseohmygodwhathappenedtohimSASUKE_...

He was pulled out of his panicking downward spiral of thought by the Jinchuuriki's voice.

"Itachi, please sit down. I'll explain."

He could only mechanically obey the request. He sat down on the end of the right couch. Itachi's whole world had been thrown on its axis multiple times today, and he didn't know if he could take any more shocks.

A brief look of concern flickered over Naruto's face. Itachi was looking pale, and he wondered not for the first time if they had taken the right course of action.

When they arrived in the past, it had become clear that what Sasuke remembered from the clan was not exactly how it was in reality. From what he remembered, Itachi was a brother that never spent any time teaching Sasuke his shinobi skills and blowing him off every time he asked, never keeping his promises to his little brother.

After looking at all those times with an outsiders point of view however, it became clear that Itachi had just tried to protect him. No matter how much it pained him, he had tried to keep his distance from Sasuke as to not attract any attention from their father to his little brother. Itachi knew the life of a shinobi was hard, and didn't want his otouto to end up the way he did. So he also tried to teach him as little as possible.

It had worked in the original time line, but with the mind of a twenty one year old, it was pretty obvious that Itachi had been protecting Sasuke with his actions.

Naruto decided to start with something simple, to take Itachi's mind of the fact that his little brother was a part of Yuugure.

"First up, introductions. I'll start from the right." He pointed at the person standing behind the first couch, and just went from there. Indicating each person in the order he introduced themselves in.

"Heir to the Aburame clan, Aburame Shino. Next to him Hyuuga Neji, they both came back with us. Shisui, you already know. He didn't travel back by the way. Heir to the Nara clan, Nara Shikamaru, your mentor for the rest of the year, and first son to the Inuzuka clan head, Inuzuka Kiba. They both also came back. Last comes Juugo, he isn't a time traveller, but everyone in the organization learned of our backgrounds when they joined. I'm Uzumaki Naruto, as you probably already know, and the leader of Yuugure." Every time Naruto mentioned someone's name, they would give him a nod in acknowledgement. He wisely left Sasuke out of the conversation for the moment.

"Sai is also one of the time travellers, but he is with root," Itachi's head snapped up, "so he couldn't be here today." Naruto continued as if there was nothing wrong.

"You have members of root in Yuugure?" Itachi questioned. He was grateful for the change of topic, he didn't think he could confront his little brother right now.

It was Kiba who answered him, "We have two root members, Sai and Shin."

Shisui spoke next, grinning like a loon. He liked shocking Itachi, his friend had shown more emotions in the past few hours than he had seen in the last few _months_. "We not only have root members, those aren't even that shocking in comparison to some others. I mean, we got four clan heirs, if you count you in Itachi, six time travellers, under whom the leader is a seals master, strategic genius, Jinchuuriki, Sage, leader of the great shinobi alliance, and Rokudaime Hokage." Itachi looked gobsmacked while Naruto let out a long suffering sight. _Every Fucking time_ someone joined Yuugure, they had to boast over his accomplishments. Shisui continued on, very much aware of the fact that he was annoying Naruto-sama.

"We also have _three_ Jinchuuriki who have permanently joined, and are allied with _all_ of them. Two of our members are the sons of a Kage, we have three members who are the last of their respective bloodlines, and Juugo here can absorb nature chakra. He is the one Orochimaru bases his cursed seal on in the future. And finally, there is not a _single_ member of this group that is an adult. Hell, I'm the oldest!" He finished.

Itachi was shocked speechless.

Never, _ever_ in his entire life, had he thought that Yuugure was made up of such a unique bunch of people. And they were all _children_ nonetheless.

"Is there anything else that you want to tell me?" He asked faintly. Itachi honestly thought that he would get a heart attack should he be surprised one more time.

The uneasy silence that followed was telling.

"There is." Shikamaru stated after a long pause. "And I don't think that's a good thing to drop on him today." Naruto intervened. He and Shikamaru locked their eyes into a staring contest.

After a long battle of wills, the Nara was the first one to look away.

"As you wish." He murmured.

Itachi was kind of curious what they were talking about, when for the first time in the conversation Sasuke opened his mouth.

"Nii-san."

It was only one word, but it pained Itachi's heart to hear it coming from his otouto's mouth. It was what he had a always called him after all, and he knew that he couldn't put confronting the issue off any longer.

His voice was oddly hoarse when he asked the next question. It was mostly meant for himself however.

"How didn't I notice?"

"You couldn't have known." Sasuke answered in a monotone voice.

His heart clenched in his chest, it sounded _wrong_ to hear such an emotionless tone come out of Sasuke's mouth. It wasn't right! His little brother had gone through a war and _he hadn't even noticed_.

"I should have." He finally said. His voice cracked in the middle, but Itachi couldn't muster any thought to care about the way his mask was slowly crumbling in front of other people.

Sasuke shook his head. "No, nii-san. You literally couldn't have. Naruto developed a way of changing our behaviour gradually instead of suddenly. There was only one way to determine that something was wrong, and that certainly is not something you would normally do."

"How? How could I have noticed something was wrong?" Itachi wanted to believe him, he really did. But it was just so hard to reconcile the fact that Sasuke had changed drastically two years ago, with the knowledge that he _hadn't noticed anything was wrong_.

"It is quite simple really, Naruto and I invented a genjutsu that showed people _what they expected to see_. Not what was actually _there_. And since I have the Mangekyou," Itachi looked shell shocked and heartbroken at that fact, he knew what was needed to achieve the next stage of the sharingan. He felt in agony only _imagining_ what his otouto must have gone through.

Sasuke continued on though, seemingly not even showing any outward concern for what his older brother was going through. The look in his eyes however, told Naruto a different story. "Any genjutsu placed with my eyes are almost undetectable to _even genjutsu masters_. It was easy to slowly morph people's expectations to match it with reality. A change over a large amount of time is almost unnoticeable. The genjutsu is programmed to last until we are twelve, so in five years we can be ourselves in public without arousing suspicion."

Sasuke's eyes slowly morphed into the Mangekyou sharingan while he finished. "There were only two chances for anyone to realize something was wrong in the last two years.

The first was when we had just come back. The genjutsu wasn't made yet at the time, but we avoided our family as much as possible during the period before we found a solution to the problem. After a short two weeks, everything was back to normal for us. The only one who suspected a thing was Nara Shikaku, and even _he_ had to give up on any theories when Shikamaru acted normally again for more then two months straight.

The second opportunity to notice something was off, was to attack me. And since none of the villagers had any inclination to try to kill _me_ , that wasn't an option to discover anything nii-san. You were actively avoiding doing anything regarding shinobi training with me,

So I repeat,

 _You couldn't have known_."

Itachi's body relaxed a little bit. Hearing Sasuke's logic, he couldn't help but see that he was right. It was difficult for him to have known anything was amiss. Let alone figure the ridiculous part of time travel out. He was intensely studying the first mangekyou sharingan he had ever seen, until Naruto spoke up.

"Sasuke, stop with the eyes."

Immediately, Sasuke morphed his sharingan back to normal. His expression looked almost guilty. "I apologize." Naruto looked at him for a long moment, before he nodded once. "Don't let it happen again."

Itachi frowned. That wasn't normal. Why would he feel guilty about using his sharingan?

"Anyway, lets move on to the serious topic here." Naruto said.

Instantly, the atmosphere in the room thickened, and Itachi could almost feel the strained tension that overcame most of them.

It wasn't hard to imagine these children actually being older mentally then they were physically. He suppressed a shiver. It was disturbing how mature the air around most of them felt. The seven year old bodies, and the chakra pressure that was naturally present around each of them, painted a scarily mismatched picture. _It just didn't fit_.

Shikamaru came forward and made eye contact with Itachi.

"So," he began, "here is what we want you to do..."

* * *

 **THE NEXT DAY**

The sandaime hokage was sitting at his desk battling the most evil creature known to mankind ( _paperwork_ ), when ANBU agent weasel appeared before him.

"Hokage-sama, if I may speak to you in confidentiality."

Sarutobi Hiruzen, knowing which particular person hid under the mask, granted his request, and signaled his guards to get out of the room before activating a privacy seal. "You may take of your mask, Itachi."

The young Uchiha nodded and undid his ANBU mask, revealing a face with typical traits for the clan. Black hair, onyx eyes, and pale white skin. His face was set in the standard cold, stoic countenance.

Hiruzen smiled warmly at the boy. "What have you come here for today?"

"I came to inform you of a possible false order being given to me in your name, and maybe a solution to a problem we've been searching for."

The hokage was actually surprised at the answer. He hadn't thought that Itachi would come to him with things like that.

"What is this solution you propose." The situation with the Uchiha clan was very delicate at the moment, and frankly, he had no idea what to do about it.

So Itachi told him his idea with a serious and grim look on his face.

* * *

When he was done talking, the sandaime had a matching expression.

"I must admit, that would be the best solution with the least bloodshed. But are you sure?" He was genuinely concerned about the young Uchiha. This would probably end up with him being shunned and hated by his own clan, maybe even his brother.

Itachi nodded. "Yes, Hokage-sama. I believe that this would be the best solution to ensure that it will never happen again." The idea that Yuugure had proposed was the best way out if this mess. He could live with the clan hating him, and Sasuke _(he cringed, his otouto had obviously been avoiding him since yesterday)_ probably wouldn't hate him for it, since he was one of the people that _made_ the plan.

They sat a while in a comfortable silence, while the old man lit up his pipe to inhale a puff of smoke.

The sandaime's face soon took on a grave expression. "As for the next topic, giving a false order in the name of the hokage is a serious offense. Are you absolutely sure?"

Itachi nodded grimly. "Yes, I am sure hokage-sama. You did not order the massacre of the Uchiha clan did you not?"

This visibly startled the old man. "No, I certainly did not! Who gave you this order!?"

Itachi's eyes took on an unholy glint.

"Danzo-sama." Was his answer.

The sandaime looked like he had suddenly aged a hundred years. A glint of steel came into his eyes however, and he soon pulled himself together. He pinched his nose in an attempt to stop his slowly building headache. He was already calculating how much paperwork this entire mess was gonna generate, and suppressed a groan when he realised that his secretary had the week off.

Better to get this whole thing over with.

"Tell me everything."

* * *

 **A/n: Hi guys! I hope you liked this chapter! Thank you for all the reviews, favourites and follows. I would have never imagined having over a hundred favourites! You guys keep me going, so thank you for all the support. Check out my first Poll on my profile, it won't close for a long time though. I'm planning to work on one story at a time. I'm also planning to write a short OMAKE, so please tell me what you would like as content.**

 **If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask!**

 **I love you,**

 **XxNoblesse12**


	7. Execution

**A/n: Hi, here's the new chapter of Jaded! Please enjoy!**

 **I also have a poll on my profile, the question: What anime/book should I write a story for next? Please vote for your favourite option!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.**

* * *

Uchiha Fugaku was sitting at his desk doing paperwork for the police force, when an ANBU appeared before him with an order to come to the Hokage. As a good and law abiding citizen and dutiful shinobi, he of course immediately made his way to the Hokage tower ( _escaping paperwork? Of course not, Uchiha didn't shirk their duties_!). So when Fugaku arrived at the front desk, and all of a sudden he was surrounded by Sarutobi's personal ANBU guard, he was understandably upset and more than a little bit confused with the situation.

Those feelings soon turned into anger however, when they proceeded to drag him to what was clearly an interrogation cell! Him! The Uchiha clan head! Demanding to be released _this instant_ , because _I-am-the-head-of-the-policeforce-and-you-will-regret-this..._

His tirade was interrupted however, by Yamanaka Inoichi, the head of the Yamanaka clan and torture and interrogation department, who had just come in with an unusually serious look on his face.

Fugaku was stunned by the implication of _this man_ being involved in his detainment. A tiny voice in his head began niggling with suspicion. Could they know about the coup? He slowly began panicking. He had to get out of this situation!

The Uchiha clan head put up a calm front, while ignoring the feeling of dread that slowly crept up his spine at the grimm look on the Yamanaka's face.

"Inoichi, what is the meaning of all this!" He demanded.

The head of the torture and interrogation department stayed silent however, and advanced on Fugaku with a cold countenance rarely seen on the man.

The Uchiha clan head had a sinking feeling in his stomach when he saw the hand signs the other man began to form. He had seen this jutsu performed countless times while watching interrogations for the Konoha police force, and the things the Yamanaka could discover if he performed the jutsu on him weren't lost on Fugaku.

The last thought the Uchiha had before Inoichi plunged into his mind, were that they were utterly screwed.

* * *

Three hours later, one Yamanaka Inoichi exited the Uchiha clan head's mind feeling utterly disgusted with the man and his entire clan. The sandaime's suspicions hadn't been misplaced. The Uchiha's were planning a coup d'etat against the village.

He looked down with disgust at the unconscious man before him, knowing that he wouldn't be alive much longer. The man had plotted treason against Konoha, and the only penalty for traitors, was death. Inoichi was already making a list in his head of the Uchiha's that were involved in the planning of the coup. It was long. _too_ long for his liking.

He exited the room, giving explicit orders to the ANBU that were stationed by the door to not let anyone in or out, even if their lives depended on it.

Shikaku would be busy with this mess. The Yamanaka sighed to himself. He was not gonna be home for the coming two weeks at _least_.

' _Well, at least I'm not the only one_.' He thought to himself.

It was not even a day later, when the ANBU force descended on the Uchiha district.

The entirety of Konoha was _shocked_. 57 Uchiha's, under whom _all_ the clan elders and the current clan head, were arrested and sentenced to death for plotting treason. The Konoha police force was shut down, and the sandaime appointed Uchiha Itachi as the new clan head. The Hokage also ordered the young ANBU to be the one to publicly execute the instigators of the coup himself.

* * *

 **THE NEXT DAY**

A big crowd had assembled on the main square, to watch the executions of the ex-Uchiha clan head and his wife. There had been whispers going around the whole day of the Uchiha's plan to overthrow the village, and the people of Konoha wanted justice. So when the prisoners came out, and were escorted to the execution platform, which had been built just for today, the crowd was spitting insults red with rage.

Then a small ANBU shunshin'ed onto the platform, and took of his mask.

Cries of outrage could be heard from more than one person, when they saw who the executioner was.

* * *

Uchiha Itachi shunshin'ed to the platform with a stoic countenance. His whirling sharingan betrayed his turmoil however.

His parents were both forced to their knees by their ANBU guard.

His father looked at him with resignation, and his mother looked ready to cry. They had both realised that their son was the one who betrayed their cause, and even though they didn't want to believe it, he was standing right before them. Free. That was proof enough.

Fugaku slowly closed his eyes.

"I see... so you've aligned yourself with the other side?"

Itachi couldn't find it in himself to answer. He felt a lump in his throat, but he tried to convey his feelings anyway. They deserved that. "Father, mother... I..."

"We know, Itachi." Mikoto cut him off.

Itachi pulled his blade. He absently noticed his hands were shaking.

"Itachi, just promise me one thing." Fugaku said, knowing that what he was going to say next would be done anyway, but needing confirmation as a father. "Take care of Sasuke for us."

Itachi's vision distorted. Tears were threatening to roll down his cheeks hearing his father's last request.

"I will." He promised. His voice was shaking with emotion.

Now the tears were falling.

"Do not fear. This is the path you've chosen." Fugaku knew his son was crying, even though he was sitting with his back turned towards him. "Compared to you, our pain will be over in an instant." He knew his life would end today, and said his last words, meaning them with all his heart.

"Even if our philosophies differ, I am proud of you."

Now, Itachi clenched the blade with both his hands. His teeth gritted together. He was openly crying, his sadness and agony on display, for all the world to see.

"You are truly a kind child." Fugaku closed his eyes, waiting for the death blow. Next to him, Mikoto did the same.

Itachi lifted the blade above his head, steadying his hands to make their deaths as painless and quick as possible.

The world seemed to fall silent at that moment. You could hear _nothing_. No birds, no people talking, not even the wind. The whole of Konoha seemed to hold their breath.

A moment later, Uchiha Itachi executed both his parents by stabbing them in the heart. After the ANBU confirmed their deaths, he shunshin'ed away to deal with his pain elsewhere.

No one saw his eyes morphing from the normal three tomoe sharingan, into the infamous Mangekyo.

* * *

In a shadowy corner of the square, Uchiha Sasuke slowly turned his back to the platform and made his way toward the Yuugure base, one lone tear rolling down his cheek.

* * *

 **A/n: I hope you enjoyed the new chapter of Jaded! Thank you very much for all the reviews, favourites and followed XD. This chapter is shorter than normal, but I had a really bad week. Inspiration just wouldn't come... Anyway, I'm preparing for an exam, so the story will be updated once I'm done with that. Again, thanks for your support!**

 **I love you**

 **XxNoblesse12**


	8. Confrontation

**A/n: Hi guys, here's the next chapter of Jaded. Let me know what you think. Sorry for the long wait, and please Enjoy!**

 **Please visit my profile for a poll about what anime/book my next fanfiction should be. (Of course I'm planning to finish Jaded first).**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.**

* * *

Shikamaru sighed.

Sasuke and Itachi were avoiding each other.

Ever since the execution, the two had been working on everyone's nerves with their equally bad moods and broody behaviour. The first week he let them be. The second week he was getting sick of it. The third week he decided to do something about it.

For _both_ of the Uchiha brothers piece of mind, they had to have a good talk with each other before they drove themselves crazy with their identical brooding and angsting. It had gotten to the point that _Naruto-sama_ had become affected by the dark mood that hung around the base. And when his Light was bothered by something, it was _Shikamaru's_ duty to get involved and _obliterate_ the cause.

It kind of irked him that he couldn't gleefully murder the problem like he and the rest of Yuugure usually did with the civilians that bothered their leader.

Shikamaru's eyes got a dark, sadistic glint in them by only _thinking_ about the civilians and shinobi that tortured his Light during his first childhood. As soon as the time travellers ( _and later the rest of Yuugure_ ) had investigated Naruto's injuries after they took the Pledge of Old, they had stumbled upon a group of civilians and sometimes even shinobi that systematically abused Naruto.

They had investigated the group as calmly as possible ( _in an angry, unstoppable rage_ ), and subtly made them disappear ( _murder them and hide the bodies_ ) one by one.

* * *

 **FLASHBACK**

 _Shikamaru was walking down the main streets of Konoha in search for his Hokage, when one of the main instigators behind Naruto-sama's **mob beatings** walked past him. Deciding that he could search for Naruto later, Shikamaru followed the man._

 _The group hadn't touched Sarada Higuchi yet because the man named was a fairly high up civilian in the village, making him a risky target. If Higuchi went missing, there would be an investigation done by ANBU. And while they had no particular problem with that, Naruto always looked into any and all ANBU investigations personally, claiming that they couldn't risk **not** knowing anything about the current state of Konoha._

 _They had kept Naruto's attention away from the previous assassinations that they had committed by only choosing low risk targets who were also not high up on the social ladder. They thinned out the crowd by picking the known drunks and drug users as targets. Such disappearances only came under investigation by the Uchiha police force, and while those reports also came back to Naruto eventually, Sasuke was the one who was responsible for bringing them to their Hokage. Thus making it easy to let the crimes that they committed simply disappear before Naruto got even a hint of their deeds._

 _Shikamaru had decided to follow Higuchi on a whim, simply being bored and knowing that while Naruto concealed his presence from him he wouldn't find the blond anyway._

 _The afternoon and evening that followed changed his perception of Konoha forever._

 _Before that day, he had known that Naruto had a rough childhood. He knew that the villagers liked to emotionally abuse him, and had seen for himself that they did the same physically. And while it came as a hard blow to accept, he had come to terms with it. Like Naruto had told him, they were simply scared._

 _What hadn't gotten through to him yet, was that they actually **tried to kill him.**_

 _In hindsight, it was almost ridiculous how **naive** his mindset had been towards Konoha. When they abused a boy since he was a baby, to have gotten away with their behaviour **without** any repercussions whatsoever, it was only natural that the perpetrators would take it a step further and try to kill the person their hatred, anger and fear came from._

 _Shikamaru followed Higuchi on a whim, getting more suspicious of what the guy was doing when it looked like he was heading towards the seedier parts of Konoha._

 _His mind was running in overdrive trying to figure out what Higuchi was up to, and if they would finally get blackmail material to threaten the guy with (he was as slippery as an eel, he was one of the **rare** cases of high standing civilians that they hadn't collected **some** sort of blackmail on yet), while his target entered the red light district. Higuchi turned around the corner into a dark alley which Shikamaru knew was a dead end. He slipped into the shadows, concealing his presence entirely from any chakra sensors._

 _Higuchi was looking around suspiciously, fidgeting a lot. His behaviour confirmed what Shikamaru had been thinking, he wasn't up to something good._

 _After several minutes of waiting, Shikamaru's patience was rewarded._

 _He could sense a chakra signature come to a stop on the rooftops across the streets._

 _It was a common sight in Konoha to see shinobi hopping across the rooftops, but they rarely just stopped moving for seemingly no reason._

 _Shikamaru was torn between excitement and apprehension. On one hand, it meant that whatever was going to go down here would at **least** be important and probably not legal, thus perfect for blackmail material. On the other hand, shinobi were involved. And Shikamaru didn't have to be a genius to know that no matter how much knowledge of the future the group had, after only half a year of training they were **not** the strongest people in Konoha._

 _At this point in time they were all around high chuunin level. If Huuchi had any business with shinobi that involved people with jounin rank, or worse, ANBU, then they couldn't do anything about Higuchi's plans._

 _Speaking of Higuchi, he was fidgeting and nervously looking around even more than before. It had been half an hour since he had arrived in the alley, and since what he was up to probably wasn't anything good, he was sweating bullets._

 _After a few more minutes of waiting the unknown shinobi sunshin'ed from the rooftop across the street, down into the shadows of the alley. The shinobi looked to be around 20 years old, he had brown hair and grey eyes, all in all looked like the picture of mediocrity itself._

 _Higuchi jumped at their abrupt close proximity, his eyes nervously flickering towards the man's headband._

 _Shikamaru inwardly frowned. This was bad news. There was indeed a Konoha shinobi involved in this business. Thankfully the man was wearing his chuunin vest, clearly showing his rank. At least they knew what they would be dealing with in the future._

 _The chuunin started talking. "Do you have the money?"_

 _Huuchi chuckled nervously. "Of course." He raised his hand, a bag of coins in it, handing it over to the other man. "Half up front, as you asked. You get the rest when the demon is dead."_

 _The chuunin grunted._

 _Shikamaru froze._

 _A moment later the darkness **exploded**._

 _Higuchi and the chuunin in fell to their knees, struggling to breathe from the murderous KI that pressed down on them as they were grabbed in a strangle hold by their own shadows. They tried to scream for help, to get out of the deadly situation they suddenly found themselves in, but no matter how much they struggled, it was all futile._

 _Higuchi and the unnamed chuunin were dragged into the shadows, never to be seen or heard from again._

 _The time travellers made sure of that._

* * *

 **PRESENT**

The day was burned into his psyche.

Not only because they all became disillusioned with Konohagakure, but also because it would eventually lead to the beginning of Yuugure.

Naruto already had plans concerning the Jinchuuriki, the people Orochimaru got his hands on, and the Akatsuki. And athough they were _Naruto-sama's sworn shinobi_ , they also held loyalty for Konoha because it was their home.

The time travellers grew up ( _and would grow up again_ ) in Konoha, they had gone on missions for Konoha, they fought for Konoha, bled for Konoha, and burried their friends, their _family_ , on her grounds.

The will of fire burned bright in _every single one_ _of them_ , and they thought that _nothing_ could ever change that.

Until that day.

Maybe they hadn't noticed it because they _didn't want to_. The fear they could understand. Not forgive _or_ forget, but understand.

But the place they _loved_ and _protected_ would _never_ do something like plotting to kill a defenseless child, right?

 _Wrong_.

So they decided. They decided to separate themselves and their allegiance from Konoha entirely.

Because they knew that _none of them_ would serve a village that let it's citizens get away with plotting to kill Naruto. It was as good as trying to kill _all_ of them. When Naruto was injured, they were in _agony_. When Naruto was in emotional pain, they felt like their hearts were being _stomped to pieces_.

And when Naruto was _dying_...

Shikamaru felt bile rising in his throat, willing his mind away from that line of thought. He _never_ wanted that to happen again. _**No one**_ would survive the aftermath this time, he was sure of it. He could still see the smoking wasteland where Earth country ( _mountains, trees, water, **life**_ ) used to be.

Yeah, better not follow that line of thought...

Of course they had to think up good reasons for Naruto to make an organization that was entirely independent from Konoha.

Naruto was against it at first, but eventually, Sai made the argument that convinced him.

All the people that they were planning to save could have a home, people, no. A _family_ to come back to.

So Yuugure came to be.

Naruto was happy because he could offer all his precious people a home, and they were happy because now they had a place to fall back on if they ever left Konoha.

Of course they would do their best to make sure it never happened, Naruto wanted to be Hokage again and Konoha made him happy ( _how, they would never understand, but it did_ ). But if, _if_ there ever was a situation where they were forced to choose between leaving Konoha or endangering Naruto, they were prepared to leave in a heartbeat.

They had three bases in Hi no kuni they could immediately go to. One near the Uzumaki shrine ( _which was also their headquarters_ ), one deep underneath Konoha itself, and one near the Capital. They also had bases spread out over the elemental countries. Four in Mizu no kuni ( _although one wasn't really theirs anymore_ ), two in Kaminari no kuni, two in Tsuchi no kuni, one in Kaze no kuni, one near Takigakure and several more spread out evenly across the continent.

Any of these places could serve as a home for all of Yuugure if it ever came down to it.

' _Well, lets hope it never does._ '

* * *

Shikamaru was looking down at Sasuke. He was practicing his daily kata in the training room, and even from the observation platform you could see the sweat dripping down his face. Silently, a person appeared beside him, tilting his head in question, as if to ask why they were to meet here today, not seeing the child training below.

Shikamaru held the person standing next to him under intense scrutiny for a few seconds, visibly going over all the different scenarios for this long overdue conversation. He sighed.

In a flash of movement almost to fast to follow, Itachi was thrown towards Sasuke at high speed, not able to cushion his body for when he would hit the ground.

Sasuke, sensing someone flying towards him at breakneck speeds, immediately moved to catch the person before they actually broke their neck.

Seeing that the person he caught was also the one he had been avoiding for the last three weeks, he ( _rightly_ ) suspected that it wasn't an accident. Itachi was thrown his way. So he looked up towards the observation platform.

He flinched back as soon as he saw who was standing there.

Shikamaru was glaring at him, the shadows behind him moving around angrily. "Talk with each other. _Now_." He said, and as soon as the words left his mouth, Sasuke knew that he couldn't avoid Itachi any longer. Shikamaru only involved himself in someone else's matters when they had some sort of negative impact on Naruto, and when something like that happened, _no one_ could stand in his way until the matter was solved or obliterated from existence. Mostly the latter.

So he did the only thing he could do in such a situation. Sasuke quickly nodded in agreement.

Seeing Sasuke give his confirmation that he would solve the matter himself ( _because otherwise Shikamaru would have solved it **for him** , and **not** in a good way_ ), Shikamaru calmed down a bit and turned around to leave the Uchiha brothers to it.

He only stopped to do a quick earth jutsu and lock them inside the training room so that no one would interrupt them while they were having their conversation.

As he walked away, satisfied that tomorrow the base ( _and Naruto_ - _sama_ ) would most likely be back to normal, Shikamaru yawned.

"Troublesome..." he muttered to himself.

* * *

 **INSIDE THE TRAINING ROOM**

Itachi was still staring at the point where Shikamaru had been standing. He never knew that the Nara heir could be so _scary_.

His attention was soon averted to the person that caught him, and as soon as he saw his little brother, he froze.

Itachi knew that he had been avoiding Sasuke. Ever since his otouto had been revealed as a time traveller, he just didn't know how to treat him.

What happened to Sasuke, for him to get the Mangekyo? Why hadn't he told Itachi? Did he hate him for killing their parents? Was the war responsible for the jaded look in his eyes, or was it something else? He just had so many questions, and he wasn't sure if he even wanted to know the answers.

* * *

Sasuke looked at Itachi for the first time in three weeks.

The first thing that came to mind that he looked tired. Not the ' _I need a good night of sleep_ ' kind of tired, but the deep weary to the bone and stressed out ' _I will never stand up again'_ kind of tired. He knew the feeling. Sasuke himself had looked that way many times over the course of the war, and to see the same feeling that he had experienced so many times reflected on Itachi's face was a relief.

Not because Itachi felt that way, obviously, but because they still had things in common. Even if it was a small ( _and not even a good_ ) thing, it relieved him to see that they still had grounds on which they could connect with each other.

That's when Sasuke made his decision.

He would show Itachi _everything_.

He would answer all of his questions, bare his heart in front of his brother, and he would hope that when they were done Itachi still accepted the dark and twisted person Sasuke knew he had become and call him his otouto.

He took a deep breath, pinning Itachi down with an intense stare.

"If you want to, nii-san, I'll show you my life."

Itachi flinched at the familiar adress and his throat dried when the meaning of his little brother's statement got through to him.

He didn't even have to think about his answer.

"Show me _everything_."

Slowly Sasuke activated his sharingan, intensely looking at Itachi for any signs of discomfort or doubt, now that he could still turn back. But the only thing he saw reflected back at him was determination.

So he spoke the doomed words.

"... _ **Mangekyo sharingan**_ "

* * *

Itachi only had time to look up at the suddenly _red_ sky, before he was plunged into a lifetime of memories.

* * *

 _Sasuke, managing his first Fireball jutsu on the Uchiha peer..._

 ** _"...As I expected, you are my child."_**

* * *

 _Sasuke coming home from school, only to come across his murdered clan members..._

 ** _"Foolish little brother. If you want to kill me, despise me, hate me, and continue to love your ugly life... Run, keep running. Cling to life, and then some day, when you have the same eyes as I do, come before me."_**

* * *

 _Sasuke giving his introduction to his first genin team._

 _" **I hate a lot of things, and I don't particularly like a lot of things either. I can't say I have a dream, but I do have an ambition. I'm gonna restore my clan, and I'm going to kill... a certain man."**_

* * *

 _Sasuke on his first C-rank mission, sacrificing himself for Naruto and activating his sharingan._

 ** _"...My body...just...moved...on it's own..."_**

* * *

 _Sasuke in the forest of death, fighting Orochimaru of the Sannin..._

 _" **I gave him a parting present. Sasuke-kun will seek me. He will seek me out for power."**_

* * *

 _Sasuke and Naruto fighting against Shukaku's host, preventing Konoha from being completely invaded by sound and sand._

 _" **If you never fight for anyone but yourself, you'll NEVER be strong, no matter WHAT you do."**_

* * *

 _Sasuke's defection from Konoha, the battle at the Valley of the End._

 ** _"Don't you care for your comrades at all!?"_**

 ** _"Comrades you said? Did I become stronger by staying with these so called comrades? I am going to where Orochimaru is."_**

 ** _"Orochimaru is the person who killed the Sandaime and tried to crush Konoha! Do you think he will give you power freely? He just wants your body as a vessel! You might not be able to come back. You might get killed! You think I'd easily let you go to such a place!?"_**

 ** _"That doesn't matter to me. If my goal is accomplished, then that's all that matters."_**

* * *

Two years passed by in a flash,

And then...

* * *

 _Him, waiting in some sort of Uchiha shrine. Sitting imperiously on the throne like he **belonged** there._

 ** _"That sharingan... How much can you actually see?"_**

 ** _"How much I can see with these? What I'm seeing right now, Itachi... is your death!"_**

 ** _"My death, huh? ...Then, make it happen."_**

* * *

Sasuke showed him the whole fight, leaving nothing out.

Itachi asked for everything? Then he would get exactly that. Or at least the things future Itachi had experienced and known when he was still alive.

Eventually they came to his brother's dying moment. Something that, even without the sharingan, was burned into his brain forever.

* * *

 _They were standing on the roof of the shrine, the sun breaking through the clouds while the environment was recovering from his earlier Kirin._

 _Itachi, surrounded on all sides by his own Susano'o, slowly brought up his arm. Sasuke was shaking, partly from the lack of chakra in his body, and partly from emotional exhaustion._

 _Itachi slowly extended his two fingers, aiming at Sasuke's forehead in a familiar gesture._

 _* **Poke** *_

 _He retracted his fingers from his stunned little brother's forehead, and gave the most **breathtaking smile** he had ever seen Itachi give in his **entire life.** _

_Then, Uchiha Itachi uttered his last words..._

 ** _"Forgive me, Sasuke..._**

 ** _Looks like this is the end for me..."_**

* * *

 **A/n Hi guys, thank you for reading this, I hope you liked it. I couldn't find a good way to end this chapter, so I did it with a cliffhanger XD. In my opinion, it is a bit mean, but it always works to keep the readers interested (I hope). Next chapter is going to be angsty, because you will learn of Sasuke's first suicide attempt and how his undying loyalty to Naruto developed. This is also where you can see the deviation from CANON Sasuke.**

 **Thank you for all the reviews, favourites and follows. I will do my best to post again as soon as possible. Please visit my profile for a poll on what anime/book the next fanfic I write should be.**

 **I love you,**

 **XxNoblesse12**


	9. Saviour

**Hi everyone,**  
 **An extra long update for you guys!**  
 **I hope you enjoy this chapter of jaded, and thanks for the reviews, favorites and follows XD**

* * *

Sasuke stopped showing his memories and pulled his brother into the normal world of Tsukuyomi. He wanted to talk _-_ _yell, scream, rage-_ to Itachi about the decisions he made for as long as Sasuke had known the truth, and now he finally had an opportunity to let it all out.

In the future, Sasuke had hoped that with all kinds of dead, famous shinobi coming back to life, Itachi would be amongst them. Of course his luck wasn't that good. It was made even worse when he found out later that Itachi would have been among the edo tensei people, had his brother not asked Kisame to burn his body when he died. Except for his eyes, there was nothing left.

Sasuke had felt conflicted by it. One the up side, Itachi wouldn't be there to fight against them in the war, and that was something that you couldn't say for a lot of dead people. Even the shinobi who fought by your side were at risk of being brought back to life by _edo tensei_ , only to fight against you this time. So that his brother was spared this fate, was a relief.

On the other hand, Sasuke couldn't handle what Itachi had kept from him. If he had had the chance to talk with his brother, it would have eased a lot of the suicidal depression he had gone through after he died.

Yes, the _suicidal depression_ he had gone through.

Now, standing in the Tsukuyomi world, Sasuke only had one question. He had to get the confirmation of Itachi's answer. He took a deep breath.

"What do you think happened after you died, nii-san? What do you think future you would have in mind when he made me kill him?"

* * *

Itachi, who was still in shock and petrified at what happened to him and his little brother in the future, could hear the need Sasuke had for an answer from him. This must have been a question that haunted his little brother for a long time. And even though the him from now wasn't the him from Sasuke's future anymore _-and he never would be, Itachi vowed to himself_ _-_ he felt the need to answer. So he thought about why future him would have done what he did. If he could answer Sasuke's questions and ease his suffering for even a tiny bit, he would be satisfied.

Suddenly his father's last words came back to him. _'Compared you, our pain is over in an instant'_. The words seemed oddly fitting for the situation. Because even though future Itachi had suffered longer than his mother and father, Sasuke had been in pain even longer than all of them combined.

He was still suffering, even now.

Itachi thought about what he would have done had Yuugure not existed, and through his own thought process came to the terrifying conclusion that he would indeed have gone through with Danzo's orders and massacred his clan.

The only one who he would not hurt to keep the peace, was Sasuke. But if he had murdered his own family, _Sasuke's family,_ he wouldn't have deserved to live anymore.

He shuddered at the thought, and felt a chill go down his spine at how easily he followed what future him's intentions were for his little brother.

He had wanted Sasuke to become strong and kill him. He didn't deserve to live, and Sasuke had to be strong for what was coming, so he had made it Sasuke's lifelong goal to kill him. Effectively making him stronger and showing the last Uchiha's loyalty to Konoha by killing their most wanted traitor since Orochimaru.

So what did he think future him would have thought Sasuke would do as soon as he was dead?

"You would have gone back to Konoha and lived your life like you were supposed to." Itachi finally said in a voice thick with his emotions. "But that didn't happen, did it...?" He had a sinking feeling in his stomach. If everything had gone like of was supposed to, no one from Yuugure would have known what had really happened. They would have seen him as an enemy, not a potential member. So the only thing that could have happened was...

"You found out the truth." He stated. "But how?"

Sasuke chuckled weakly. It seemed that he had been correct in his assumptions. Itachi hadn't taken into account that he would learn the truth, and thought that he would simply go back to Konoha. He could see the question in his brother's eyes, and began to explain.

"Your plan would have been perfect nii-san, but there was one thing, one person you overlooked. Uchiha Obito, your co-conspirator. The one that you thought would not tell me anything because he was Konoha's enemy and the secret leader of the Akatsuki."

At Itachi's incredulous look, he could see that that turn of events hadn't even come to his mind. "Why would he tell the truth to you when you were his enemy? When you were a Konoha shinobi?"

Sasuke sighed. "It's because I hadn't gone back to Konoha yet. Soon after my fight with you, I collapsed from exhaustion. He saw his chance and abducted me with the intention to get me to turn against Konoha by telling me the truth, and as soon as I woke up, he told me everything."

Itachi watched wordlessly as Sasuke showed him his memory of the event.

He saw how his little brother, who wasn't even an adult yet at the time, bore the pain of killing his beloved Aniki with his own hands. How his whole world was turned upside down with every word Obito spoke. And when all was said and done, he saw how Sasuke clutched his head in agony and developed the Mangekyo sharingan.

That alone was telling him how much emotional pain his little brother must have experienced at that moment.

And for the second time in a month, Uchiha Itachi cried.

Silent tears were running down his face, and his thoughts were running rampant. ' _NootoutothiswasntsupposedtohappentoyouandImsosorryihatemyself_...' He was brought out of his train of thought by two tiny arms surrounding his middle, and he looked down.

Sasuke was hugging him.

"Don't cry nii-san" he mumbled into his brother's shirt. "I'm glad I learned the truth, even though it hurt. Otherwise you wouldn't be here. Otherwise _I_ wouldn't be here." He tried to comfort his brother with his words.

In Itachi's mind however, all his thought turned towards Sasuke's future. "What did you do?" He asked with a hoarse voice. "What happened after you learned the truth?"

He truly dreaded the answer. Would he join Obito and Madara? Or would he go back to Konoha? In the darkest corner of his mind however, he knew that neither would be the case. The emotional trauma Sasuke had just gone through was just to great to continue living his life like before.

Sasuke unwrapped himself from Itachi, and with hunched shoulders and a guilty countenance he told him the absolute truth.

"I tried to commit suicide."

Even though he had suspected it, Itachi was still surprised. He felt like he had been sucker punched in the stomach. Bile rose up in his throat, and his next words came out through clenched teeth in a hiss of irrational anger. "You _didn't."_

"I did."

"Why!?" Itachi shouted. "Why would you do that after everything I had gone through to make sure you survived!? The only thing I ever wanted for you little brother, was to _live_!" His voice broke on the last word.

"Don't you see!?" Now Sasuke raised his voice. "I had just lost everything! I killed my older brother with my own hands, and not even days later I hear that you were only trying to protect me! That you were innocent and that my whole purpose for living had all been for _nothing_!

Of course I would try to kill myself after that!"

They stood across one another in anger, each breathing heavily.

Then Itachi's body slumped.

"What happened exactly." He asked tiredly. Even though he didn't want to see, he had to. For his own piece of mind. There already were several gruesome scenes running through his head, all about Sasuke's suicide attempt. He would have nightmares for years to come if he didn't know exactly what had occurred. Not that he wouldn't have nightmares anyway.

Surprisingly, Sasuke smiled.

"I'll show you."

* * *

Sasuke had just violently rejected Tobi's offer for him to join the Akatsuki. To join, meant to move on with his life and have a new goal, a new purpose.

And he didn't deserve that.

As Sasuke looked back on his past actions, he was truly disgusted by himself. Without the outlook of an avenger that he had in the past, everything became crystal clear to him. He saw himself in a new perspective, and it wasn't a good one.

After the massacre, he had just shut the world out. Every person who tried to get closer to him, he shot down immediately. He had to train to kill Itachi, he had no interest in other people, he was above everyone else so they didn't deserve to interact with him.

He had been deluding himself into thinking all of these things were reality. In truth however, he had been _afraid._ _Afraid_ of forming bonds with people, _caring_ about someone other than himself again. Because he had experienced the loss of those bonds once before already, and simply wasn't sure that he could survive it if it happened a second time.

Then came team seven.

He could honestly say now that they were the best thing that ever happened to him. Kakashi-sensei, the weird perverted jounin teacher who had also become Sasuke's mentor and a person whom he could go to with his problems _-not that he had acknowledged that he felt that way at the time-._ Sakura, the annoying fan girl that had become more like the younger sister that he never had who loved him unconditionally. She had even offered to come with him when he defected.

And then there was Naruto.

Naruto, his former best friend. The one who was actually the most amazing of them all.

Yes, Orochimaru had told him about the burden Naruto had to bear since he was a baby. It was meant as a way to motivate him _-and he was ashamed to say it worked-._

He however, had no chance whatsoever to be accepted back in Konoha, even if he wanted to go back. Because the things he had done to Naruto were unforgivable. Sasuke had allowed himself to get closer to the blonde only to gain the Mangekyo sharingan for when he killed him.

He felt the bile move up in his throat when he thought about their battle at the Valley of the End.

He had put a Chidori through Naruto's chest with the intent to kill him to gain the Mangekyo.

He had put a Chidori through his _best friends_ chest. For _power_.

If it hadn't been for the Kyuubi sealed inside of Naruto, the blonde would have _died._

That's when he knew. He had to end this madness. He had to end it, he had to end _himself_ before he could do even more damage. And who better to put him out of his miserable existence than the very one who he sought to kill in the past.

' _The one who probably hates me now'_ , he thought bitterly.

He hadn't seen Naruto since the battle at the Valley of the End, and he was suddenly glad for it. If he felt _this_ pained when he even _thought_ about his former best friend now hating him, how would he have felt if he had seen the hatred in his eyes, knowing with a hundred percent conviction that he wanted Sasuke dead.

 _'Well,'_ he thought, ' _if he wants me dead, then I'll give him exactly that.'_ At least his life would still be good for something that way.

So Sasuke travelled to Konoha with the intention to die.

He made sure that he was seen a lot during his journey, as to give a forewarning that he was coming. Naruto would be waiting for him at the gate, planning to attack him as soon as he came in sight. They would fight, and he would lose one way or the other - _because Naruto was just amazing that way, he realised that now_ -. Sasuke would probably die from a rasengan or some other ridiculously overpowered attack, and finally his life would be over.

Of course, Naruto being _Naruto_ , it didn't work out that way.

The first thing that went different then he expected was that Naruto didn't meet him at the gates, he had met Sasuke half way. Of course, this being their bloody ridiculous lives, the half way point ended up being the Valley of the End.

Sasuke snorted humorlessly, it was a fitting place for his death.

Here, he had committed one of his greatest sins by trying to kill his best friend. So here, Sasuke would be killed by him. It was great irony indeed.

Naruto was the first to break the silence.

"So you finally decided to come back to Konoha?" He questioned.

Sasuke looked up in surprise at the jovial tone that Naruto used. What he saw reflected on his former best friend's face honestly stunned him. Not a even hint of hate or resentment was present. Wasn't Naruto supposed to hate him? He put a Chidori through his chest for gods sake! Why didn't the blonde try to kill him on sight!?

"No. I didn't come here to join Konoha again." Sasuke said in answer to the blonde's question. He was still trying to figure out why Naruto would act like he didn't hate Sasuke when there was absolutely no reason for his former best friend to pretend that he didn't.

 _Oh_. He was probably pretending.

Naruto simply brought one hand up to massage his shoulder and cracked his neck while he rotated his head around to loosen up his muscles. "Well then..." he said nonchalantly, "I will just have to drag you back against your will."

Before Sasuke could react, let alone say anything, the blonde had already formed a rasengan in his hand.

As the blonde rushed headfirst into (what he thought would be) combat, Sasuke simply saw the opportunity for what it was and spread his arms, waiting for the finishing blow, hoping that it would kill him. He closed his eyes, waiting for his demise.

Sasuke stood there like that for several seconds in silence, he opened his eyes again to see what was keeping the blonde.

Naruto was standing right in front of him, hand stretched out before him like he was about to hit him in the chest with the rasengan - _the irony-,_ only the technique had dissipated just before it hit.

Sasuke looked up, only to be met by Naruto's very confused expression. _"O..Oi!_ Sasuke, what the _hell_ is wrong with you!?" He asked, completely befuddled by Sasuke's strange behaviour. Why the hell wasn't he fighting back!?

Sasuke sighed, sounding completely exhausted when he answered. "Does it really matter? Just finish it already."

At Naruto's now even more confused expression, he looked up at the sky and elaborated.

"Come on, kill me."

When he didn't get a reaction, he curiously looked at Naruto again, only to be met with an expression full of pure rage. It was in fact the most angry he had ever seen the blonde _(and that said a lot, considering how easily Naruto became worked up)._

"What the hell did you just say!?"

Before he knew it, he was punched in the face by an enraged Naruto. "What the hell happened to you!? Who are you and what have you done to my friend!? The Sasuke I know would never just roll over and die, and certainly not by my hands!"

Sasuke looked at him in shock for a moment. "I thought that you would appreciate to be the one to kill me, considering I have tried the same with you before." He carefully formulated.

Then Naruto's earlier statement sunk in.

" _Friends_?" He questioned hoarsely. "You still consider me your friend after all I've done to you?"

Naruto snorted. "Teme, did you fall and hit your head lately? I said I would bring you back to the village, why would I even bother trying if you weren't my friend anymore."

Sasuke froze where he stood. This wasn't going as planned - _of course not, this was **Naruto** he was talking about-._ He thought he had nothing left in this world, no family, no village, no team, no friends, no _brother -but that wasn't true now, was it...?-_. Surely he should do the world a favour and end his existence because all of these things before were of his own doing.

But still... . He couldn't get that niggling voice out of his head. That selfish voice that said _he is your friend Sasuke. Naruto said so himself. You still have a friend, a Brother, in this world. Even if you're a being too disgusting to even contemplate touching him, **he** doesn't think so. **He** thinks of you as his friend. **He** thinks that you are worth saving. **He** believes, no matter how misguided that believe actually is, that you are not a waste of space._

All of these things made Sasuke come to the most logical conclusion in his mind.

 _Naruto didn't know the truth._

That thought stopped Sasuke in his tracks as he slowly began shaking. At first it was an unnoticeable tremor that ran through his body. Then it turned into non-stop shivering until Naruto noticed, at which point he began uncontrollably shaking.

* * *

"Sasuke...?... _Sasuke!?._.. _ **Sasuke**_!" Naruto was worried for his friend. First he shows signs of wanting to die, then he questions wether Naruto still thinks of him as a friend and upon getting confirmation that yes, of course Naruto still thinks of him as a friend you big idiot, he clearly starts going into shock.

This was _not_ how he imagined their reunion going.

With that Itachi-bastard finally dead, Naruto had hoped for a somewhat more happy outcome. And because Sasuke was a broody bastard and a shitty friend, he was prepared to _make_ it a happy return, even if Naruto had to drag him back kicking and screaming.

That was clearly not the case here.

Sasuke was shaking, almost to the point that Naruto thought it was better to sit him down and wrap him up in a pile of blankets with a steaming cup of cocoa for emotional comfort and warmth. And since that wasn't an option at the moment, he opted for the next best thing.

Naruto gave him a hug.

Miraculously, Sasuke stopped shaking almost immediately. Naruto made a note to himself to try hugging people again in the future since it clearly did wonders.

Sasuke slowly relaxed into the hug - _the HUG! When was the last time that happened_ \- that Naruto was willing to bestow upon his unworthy self, until he eventually began clinging back as if the blonde was his lifeline - _which he kinda was-._ He let himself be coaxed gently towards the nearest sitting spot (the head of the first Hokage), and they both sat there for a while just hugging each other. Naruto calm and quiet for once, and Sasuke in emotional disarray.

Sasuke's mind was caught up in a whirlwind of confusion, shock and pain. And after years of pushing people away in fear of coming to _care,_ after years of distancing himself emotionally from _anyone_ he could come to care about, after _years_ of bottling up all his positive emotions while letting the _negative_ run free because it was just so much _easier_ , he let it all out.

Sasuke became a crying mess as he retold his life story from the beginning. He let out all of his emotions, told Naruto of his happiest moments and whispered to him about his darkest secrets and vilest thoughts. He laid himself, everything that he was, bare before Naruto in hope of him finding something, _anything_ redeemable in the darkest pits of his black soul.

Naruto just listened.

Listening, Naruto knew, often was a lot more healing than any other kind of therapy. He had seen this with his own eyes in lots of the bars (shinobi and civilian) that people were too drunk to kick him out of. Escaping your problems was a common thing in the world, and Naruto knew that listening to someone without judging them and accepting who they were, even just for the night, often helped those people face another day. ( _Not that it worked for Naruto, but that was another story entirely_...)

Hearing that his best friend tried to kill himself because he thought he had nothing left in the world _hurt_. It hurt in such a deep place in his heart that Naruto couldn't help his first reaction of indignant anger, but he held himself back. Because _of course_ Sasuke tried pushing people away by any means necessary. He couldn't imagine having a family and then losing it.

Naruto knew that if there was ever a moment that Sasuke needed a connection with someone, it was now. When he opened up before possibly the only friend he thought he had.

So Naruto told him about some of his childhood, his loneliness until he found a home with team seven. He told him about the burden of being a jinchuuriki, the feeling that he was hated and alone in the world. The happiness that Naruto had found with his comrades, and that he imagined his relationship with Sasuke was like what having a brother was like.

He told him of chasing after Orochimaru in the hope of finding any clues to his location. And Naruto quietly vowed to Sasuke that he would _never_ give up on him, that he would _drag_ him back home if he had to, that he would kill Sasuke over his _dead body,_ and that he better _believe it,_ because Naruto would of _never_ break his word because that was his nindo.

* * *

From that day forward, Sasuke returned to Konoha and clung to Naruto as his lifeline. The brother that he hadn't had since he was seven years old.

After a year of probation from active duty, - _because he did kill Itachi **and** Orochimaru-_ Sasuke threw himself into training with one relentless determination. He would make Naruto the Hokage, and stand by the blonde's side as his ANBU commander.

Sasuke would do _everything_ in his power to make his new brother happy and be able to stay by his side. Naruto deserved the best, and even though Sasuke knew he wasn't worthy, he would be the strongest, the most loyal, serve with an _unprecedented devotion,_ if it could keep him by Naruto's side.

His emotional stability left a lot to be desired. And he had his ups and downs over the course of the next few years, but Sasuke was rewarded for his work by becoming Naruto's second in command as the blonde became Hokage.

Then the fourth great shinobi war broke out.

Keeping Naruto alive became his primary objective and reason for living. His mental stability ( _which was already fragile with the Mangekyo_ ) went downward fast with the enemies going after the blonde specifically. Sasuke bathed in red, and did it with a smile on his face, as every kill became another enemy that would never reach his Hokage. When he began to go blind with overuse of the Mangekyo, he asked Sakura to replace Sasuke's eyes with Itachi's without even a second thought.

Naruto began to participate in the battles, and Sasuke exhausted himself keeping up with the blonde's stamina and staying by his side EVERY SECOND of the fight. Because _one_ second, he knew, could make the difference between life and death. Losing the last person he considered family, the person that he not only considered his leader, but also his _hope_ , was not an option.

When within a few months of participating in the war Naruto could for the first time be seriously injured by newly invented chakra weapons made with tailed beast chakra from the _gedo mazo,_ Sasuke went on a self made suicidal mission to destroy any and all people involved in the invention and production of the disgusting things. He had taken them all out, but the weapons were reaching millions as he was done. They were deconstructed and used again.

The first time Naruto was on death's doorstep (and he had counted them all), Sasuke had become a madmen in his need for revenge, slaughtering everyone responsible. _Every single time_ he disappeared until the blonde was insisting on participating in the war again. And every time he presented his Hokage with the culprits heads, drenched in the blood of his enemies.

* * *

Naruto looked uncomfortable every single time.

He could see the change in Sasuke. See the change that he had wrought in his best friend and brother, see the insanity in his eyes that was increased every single time he was injured so bad he couldn't fight for _weeks._

Itachi could see it too.

Every memory showed Sasuke becoming more closed off from the world, insanity in his eyes and bathing in the blood of his enemies. Every memory it became more and more apparent that Naruto was his world, and every time that world was threatened his mind fell deeper into the curse of hatred that plagues their bloodline.

Itachi thanked the gods for Naruto's existence.

Because without the blonde it was becoming crystal clear what would have become of Sasuke. Dead, or worse, driven into insanity.

* * *

 **I hope you liked the chapter!**  
 **Imagine Naruto saving the work by hugging his enemies...:-)**  
 **R &R**

 **Love 3**  
 **XxNoblesse12**


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